Somewhere Over The Rainbow
by words-with-dragons
Summary: Sequel to No One Mourns The Wicked. 17 years after leaving Oz, Kai and Jinora's eldest daughter Kotta travels back to uncover the truth of her parents' mysterious pasts. Both old and new friends are made, but so are enemies, and no matter what, you can't escape the past. [Kai/Jinora] [OC/OC]. co-written with spiritypowers
1. Secrets

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

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Chapter One: Secrets

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Kotta first started to realize it when she found a picture in the attic of their home when she was nine years old. It was an old picture of her parents, younger and happy, with _Our family portrait_ written on the bottom in her father's loopy handwriting.

When she showed it to her parents, Jinora's eyes filled with tears. "What's wrong, Mommy?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, "just…memories." She cleared her throat before she excused herself and made her way to the bedroom.

Kotta looked up at her father, whose eyes were also glistening. "Did I do something wrong?"

Kai laid a hand on his daughter's shoulder and gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Of course not," he said. "Your mommy and I just… When you get older, sometimes you have memories that make you cry. That's all." He took a quick look in the direction of the bedroom, then back to Kotta. "I should check on your mommy. Do you want to keep that picture?"

Kotta smiled and nodded, clutching the old photo to her chest. With a last ruffling of her hair, Kai left and went after her mother.

Kotta forgot about that incident a few days later, and years passed until she thought about it again. When she did, she was twelve years old, and her mother had dropped a plate and was staring at her younger sister.

"Mom?" Kotta said, looking uncertainly between her mother, and her sister, Lani, who was only six. "Is something wrong?"

Jinora waved her hand and the plate mended itself back together instantly, flying back to her hands. "No, I just…" Jinora swallowed hard. "Your sister just reminded me of someone I knew."

Kotta frowned, and gave Lani a smile. "Come on, you can show me your dolls," she offered, eager to distract her. Lani skipped along happily, her short curly hair flying behind her.

They had skin like their mother, a bright green, a few shades darker thanks to their father's dark skin. Kotta had inherited his messy hair, but her mother's colour, and her father's emerald eyes. Lani, on the other hand, had ended up with eyes that were brown or gray, depending on how you looked at them, her hair pulled into pigtails with pink bows. ("Pink goes good with green," their mother always said.) Her younger brother Gale, just a few years difference between them, had their mother's hair and eyes, and looked the most like Jinora.

Kotta could hear her parents crying in their bedroom that night, when she tiptoed past to go to the bathroom. She heard the name "Ikki," but had no clue what it meant. She wondered what was happening, and she realized how little she knew of her parents' pasts.

She had no idea where they grew up. She had never met her grandparents, even though all her Animal friends had them. She had never even been told why they were the only humans here, and why her dad wasn't green like her, her mother, and her younger brother and sister. Her parents would say, "Oh Oz," sometimes, and she had no idea why.

Kotta decided to confront them in the morning. "Mom? Dad? What was wrong last night?"

"Nothing," Jinora answered, tilting her head at her. Kotta crossed her arms at them.

"I heard you both crying. You said a name I've never heard. And before that you looked at Lani like you'd never seen her before." Kai and Jinora exchanged a nervous glance. "Who's Ikki? Why are we the only humans here? Where did you grow up? I don't know… anything."

Kai looked back at Kotta. "That's…not true," he said cautiously. "You know that your mom and I met in college, and that we were friends with your Uncle Godfrey before any of you were born. You know that he officiated our wedding."

"Yeah, I know how you and Mom met," Kotta said exasperatedly, "you were roommates and used to hate each other until you got to know each other and then the story just ends there because you guys don't tell me anything else. You won't even tell me which college you went to, even though there are no colleges or universities here!"

Jinora sighed and closed her eyes. "It's… complicated. You'll understand when you're older, sweetheart."

Kotta frowned. "I'm nearly thirteen years old, how much older do I need to be to know the truth?"

"Older," Jinora answered quickly. "Look, I know there's a lot we haven't told you. And, honestly, we don't know how to tell you any of it. But trust me when I say that it's not because we don't think you're not ready. It's because _we're_ not ready." Her voice broke. "We were too young to have experienced some of the things we did. We want to keep you protected for as long as we can. The last thing we want to do is force you and your siblings to grow up as fast as we had to."

Jinora wiped her eyes, Kai wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Please try to understand," Jinora said softly.

Kotta looked at her feet, and any objections she had died on her lips. "Fine," she said softly. "I'll try."

So Kotta went to find the weak link: Godfrey.

She knocked on the door of her godfather's cottage. "Come in!" he called from inside. Kotta smiled and pushed the wooden door open. Most of the Animals' homes, including her parents, were fairly small cottages, located near a hill with a little valley and a few rivers. It was the perfect place for them, but Kotta couldn't help but wonder what lay beyond her little world. Her parents must have come from somewhere else. And she would hopefully find out where soon enough.

"Hi, Uncle Godfrey," she greeted. He was perched on the edge of one of his many bookshelves, looking rather preoccupied.

He turned his head in her direction, and hooted gleefully at the sight of her. "It's always good to see you, Kotta."

She smiled at him and nodded. "You, too, Uncle Godfrey." She looked around at the shelves, books stacked haphazardly in various locations. "Did I catch you at a bad time?"

Godfrey hopped off his place on the shelf and landed in front of her. "No, you're perfectly fine," he assured her. "I've just been reorganizing my book collection. Ever since moving out here, I haven't had much time to do so." He tutted at himself. "Anyway, how has life been in the Upland household? How are you parents doing? Making more children, I presume?"

Kotta couldn't hold back her snorting laughter. "Uncle Godfrey, _gross_."

"Really, I'm surprised there are only three of you. Your parents were quite… _energetic_ back in the day. Actually," he said, cocking his head in thought, "they still are, especially for their age."

"I really didn't need to know that," Kotta said, laughing in spite of her grimace. "But…" as her laughter quieted, she pulled out the photo in the pocket of her grey dress. "I wanted to ask you about this. And…my parents. Where this picture was taken. Where they came from. Why, even in a happy marriage, they still seem so sad sometimes." She sighed as Godfrey gently took the picture into his feathered wings. "I feel like I don't know them at all. But you do. You knew them back when whatever horrible thing happened was taking place. I know you always joke

about the things they did when they were younger, but…I need to know who they were."

Godfrey's face had grown solemn, and his whiskers twitched. "They were…wonderful people," he said carefully. "They still are, and they love you so much, it's just…" he sighed, handing the picture back to her. "Their broken past is their burden to carry. They don't want to force anyone else to carry it with them if they don't have to."

Kotta looked down at the picture, then back to the kindly Cat Owl's face. "I've never even seen another human outside of my own family. Please. Even if you can only tell me a little about who they were. I need to know."

He looked down at the feathered tips of his wings for a moment, staring hard at them, before he closed his eyes and sighed. "Your parents met at a place called Shiz University. It's located in a land called Oz."

Kotta blinked a few times, before grinning to herself. "So _that's_ why they swear by Oz all the time!" she exclaimed. "What else?"

Godfrey looked at her hesitantly, before continuing. "The picture you're holding was taken when they were staying together in one of your grandparents' mansions, in a part of Oz called Kiamo Ko. It was during that week that they first proclaimed their love for one another," he said, chuckling to himself fondly. He remembered that day he'd walked in on them, and how embarrassed all of them had been. From that moment on, he had been sure that they'd stay together for the rest of their lives.

"Wait," Kotta said. "You mean…my grandparents are out there somewhere?"

The Cat Owl paused, growing increasingly uncomfortable. "…Yes," he said reluctantly. "I doubt you'll ever meet them, though. They…disapproved of your parents' marriage."

Kotta furrowed her eyebrows and pouted a bit, and the questioning look on her face reminded him so much of a younger Jinora, struggling to build a network of Animal rebels to help her in her cause.

"Why?" she asked. "My parents love each other. They love us. What could be so wrong with their marriage?"

"Your grandparents could never understand it," Godfrey said. "I'm sorry, Kotta, I'm afraid I've told you too much."

"Just one more thing," Kotta pleaded, and Godfrey's resolve melted. He could never quite say no to his goddaughter.

"Where is Oz?"

Godfrey gulped loudly, looking down at his clawed feet. "Far away," he said. "Beyond the valley. Somewhere over the rainbow." He looked at her apologetically, his black eyes softening. "I'm afraid that's all I can tell you."

Kotta looked down at her feet again, then back up, smiling at Godfrey. "It's fine. I've already learned so much more than I thought I would." She reached up on her tiptoes to kiss Godfrey's furry cheek. "Thanks, Uncle."

He chuckled. "Of course, Kotta. Just…don't tell your parents we had this conversation."

She grinned mischievously, and for a moment looked so much like her father. "Of course not. It's our secret."

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 **Hi everyone! It's been a while but I was thinking, seeing as the whole fic is already written, we should finally get around to posting these chapters of this. I hope you enjoy it, and I'd love to hear your feedback. Very regular updates, too.**


	2. Broomsticks and Spellbooks

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

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Chapter Two: Broomsticks and Spellbooks

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Four years passed in a dizzying whirl, and Kotta grew from a thin, gangly 12-year-old girl to a beautiful 16-year-old woman with wild, dark brown hair, and lively green eyes, just a few shades darker than her olive green skin.

As she grew in knowledge and beauty, she also grew in certain abilities. Her parents weren't sure how they hadn't noticed it before, but when Kotta stopped a pillow that her brother had thrown from flying into her face without even touching it, it was unmistakeable: Kotta had inherited her parents' magic.

Kai and Jinora stayed up late that night, talking in hushed tones from beneath their bedsheets, curled up in one another's arms.

"Do you really think we should teach her?" Jinora asked.

"Of course we should," Kai replied. "If she's taken after you at all, that magic's going to get hard to control if we don't start right away."

"But-" Jinora sighed, burying her face in her husband's chest. "I don't exactly have fond memories of our training."

Kai stroked her hair softly. "I know. But we can't keep this part of herself from her. Think about it this way: if she can control her powers, she won't have to fear them. Ever. And if we teach her, no one will be able to take advantage of her gift." He pulled away a bit, just enough to lift Jinora's chin so he could look into her eyes. "It'll be hard, and it'll bring back some bad memories for both of us, but we owe this to her. To let her use magic on her own terms."

Jinora pursed her lips. "Okay. We'll start training in the morning. She'll have to learn how to channel her powers without a training wand, but I suppose that'll be better for her anyway." She sighed, turning her head away out of his hand. "I just don't want her to be in danger of being put through what we were put through."

"Hey," Kai said, stroking her shoulder, "we're safe here."

Jinora laughed humourlessly and turned back to Kai. "Are we? We're constantly plagued by nightmares. We always have to explain away bad memories that we can never forget and we're constantly hiding a huge part of our lives from our own children. Despite having spent nearly 17 years in a perfectly safe haven, we can never quite stop looking over our shoulders for danger." A tear trickled down her cheek, and Kai reached out to wipe it. "Sorry," she said. "I'm happy here. I've been happy here, I promise. I just…thought it would be easier to let go of the past than it has been."

Kai kissed her forehead gently. "Me too," he admitted. "So much happened to us in so little time. And we were so, so young." He continued to stroke her cheek with his thumb, fully cupping the side of her face in his hand. "Maybe it's expected that it's taking a long time for us to let go of everything that happened to us."

She held his hand against her face. "Maybe. We never took enough time to process through everything. We just…wanted so badly to finally be a normal couple. To have a normal family." She sighed dejectedly. "I guess we'll never really be normal."

"Who needs normal?" Kai said. "We've got each other. We've got three amazing kids. We're surrounded by real friends, and despite what our minds might tell us sometimes, we're safe. And tomorrow we're gonna teach one of our amazing kids how to use an amazing gift, and we're going to keep enjoying life together. That's all that matters."

Jinora smiled fondly at him, her heart swelling with affection, even after all these years. "You always know what to say."

Kai pressed his forehead to hers. "I learned from the best." She giggled softly as he kissed her, softly at first, then a little more forcefully as he shaped her mouth against hers repeatedly. When he rolled over on top of her, she laughed, gripping his shoulders to pull him closer. Their bed creaked under their shifting weight. His hands slid down her sides and up again under her shirt, causing her to shiver under him. He grinned, kissing her again, never growing tired of the sensation of her lips and body against his. He let out a moan when she bit down on his lip.

She immediately broke the kiss and shushed him, giggling with her forehead against his. "Not so loud. We'll wake up the kids."

He bent low to pepper her neck with kisses. "And they'll know that their parents have a thriving marriage," he murmured against her skin with a chuckle. "If you're really worried, you can cast a muting charm so the bedroom's soundproof. Besides, depending on how well we do tonight, they just might get another sibling." He pulled away to press his mouth against hers again.

"Shut up," she laughed against his lips, sliding her hands down his bare back. The rippling of his muscles under her hands still sent shivers down her spine, even after years of familiarizing herself with his body.

He sat up to help her remove her shirt, tossing it to the floor, and he had to stare at her for a moment. Even if they weren't as young as they once were, and even if the little creases of her eyes and mouth were becoming more permanent, she was still the most beautiful person he'd ever seen.

He lowered himself onto her, warm skin pressed against warm skin, and kissed her eagerly, his hands resting on her bare hips. "Thank you for being my wife," he whispered against her mouth.

"I wouldn't trade it for anything," she said with a smile, before reaching up to trail sloppy kisses along his shoulder and neck. He moaned loudly and she quickly shushed him again, this time capturing his mouth with hers.

"We're not going to be up early enough to start Kotta's training in the morning, are we?" Kai said with a smirk as she pulled away slightly.

Jinora paused, looking up at him. "Well, if we go to sleep within half an hour, we might."

He froze for a moment. "Do you want to go to sleep?"

A smile played at her lips, and there was a glint in her eyes as she said, "Not really."

"So…we can keep going?" he asked, careful to make sure that he was reading her correctly.

When she nodded, he leaned down swiftly and kissed her neck, suckling hard on her sweat-covered skin. She let out a surprised moan. "That settles it," she gasped, as he trailed kisses from her neck to her lips. "Afternoon, then." She pulled away slightly, just enough to mutter the silencing incantation, before Kai's lips caught hers again.

He grinned against her mouth. "Perfect." They became tangled in one another's limbs, their bodies moving together as one after years of familiarity. They'd lost count of nights they'd spent like this, just losing themselves in one another, breathing each other in like fresh air. Somehow, they could never grow tired of it, as each kiss and lingering touch only made their hearts grow closer. Even after all these years, they were never truly able to forget the times they thought they'd never get to love each other ever again.

 _Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire others. - Virginia Woolfe_

Kotta squealed excitedly during their family brunch when her parents broke the news. "I'm gonna learn how to be a sorcerer!" She exclaimed, jumping up out of her seat and dancing around in place. "Thank you so so so so so much! What are we going to start with first? Levitation? Elemental spells? Escape magic?"

"Slow down," Jinora interrupted from across the table, barely suppressing a smile. "We've got to start small. We decided to train you last-minute, so after we eat your dad and I can look for some practice spellbooks he might have kept from our college days. Then, we'll decide what to start you on. Okay?"

"Okay," Kotta said, her eyes shining.

"Lucky," Gale muttered from his place at the table. "I wish I had magic."

"There's no saying you don't for sure," Kai said, laying a reassuring hand on his son's shoulder. "We didn't notice it in Kotta till yesterday. Your mother didn't show signs of any magical ability till she was 14, and didn't even know how to control them till she was 18. Heck, I didn't show any signs till I was 17 years old."

"But what if I never get them?" Gale asked.

Lani shrugged and smiled sweetly. "I wouldn't mind not having magic so much," she said. "It'd be fun if I did, but I wouldn't mind."

"If you don't, then that's fine," Kai said. "You can still do amazing things without magic. In fact, when I was younger I had a friend that couldn't use magic at all, but was a brilliant engineer-" Jinora coughed loudly, interrupting him. She gave him a warning look.

Kotta looked between them. "You were just about to say something your weird, mysterious past, weren't you?"

"It was nothing," Kai said quickly.

"Come on," Kotta begged. "Tell me about this brilliant engineer friend of yours from back in the day."

"Kotta," Jinora said, looking at her sternly. "We told you, we'll tell you when we're ready."

"But-"

"Kotta," Lani piped up, looking at her big sister with soft eyes. She shook her head gently. Typical Lani, always wanting to keep as much peace in the household as possible. Kotta relented; the last thing she wanted to do was push her luck when her parents were going to teach her sorcery, anyway.

"Fine," Kotta said, sliding back down into her seat with crossed arms.

Once everyone was done eating and all the dishes were washed and put away, Kotta, Kai, and Jinora began their search for spellbooks. It was a more arduous search than either Kai or Jinora expected - after all, digging up for bits of your past was never easy - but after a couple of hours, they decided it was time to start once Jinora found the sorcery textbook and a beginning spellbook they'd used in university. Kotta saw that same distant, teary look in her mother's face once the books were found, but Jinora had shaken it off and smiled, asking her to go out into the field behind their cottage.

Kotta waited for a few minutes, before her parents came out with the dusted-off books and one of Lani's old stained skirts.

"One of the first things I learned was how to use magic for cleaning," Jinora said, handing her daughter the skirt. "Your father and I had wand training before we were finally able to channel any magic with purely words or hand motions, so it might take you a little longer than it did for us for you to, say, clean a room. But you'll get it quickly enough," she said with a reassuring smile. Jinora opened the spellbook to the appropriate spell and held it in front of Kotta. "This is simple enough for you to one day be able to cast without saying the words out loud, but for now, just follow the instructions. Two of the most important things for you to remember: stay calm, and take your time to enunciate."

Kotta looked intently at the words, then she focused on the stain, waving one hand around it and chanting the incantation slowly and carefully.

The stains glowed faintly for a few moments, but when the glow faded the stains still remained.

"Don't be disappointed," Jinora said, placing a hand on Kotta's shoulder.

"I'm not," Kotta said, trying not to pout. She said the incantation a few more times, but still nothing happened. "This was so easy when I wasn't trying."

"Your father and I are having tea at Oma and Shu's house this afternoon, and once you get this spell you can try a few more spells, nothing too big though. Once you're done, you can put it in our closet, make sure to mark your page." Jinora ruffled her hair.

Kotta sighed, crossing her arms. "Fine."

Jinora smiled. "I know you can do this, sweetheart. Just keep practicing and take it slow."

Kai walked over and took a place in front of Kotta, placing both hands on her shoulders. "You've got this. We have faith in you." He planted a quick kiss on the top of Kotta's head before taking Jinora's hand and leaving for tea with the Badgermole couple.

Kotta tried the spell a few more times, and on her twelfth try, she saw the stains fade slightly. They were still there, stubbornly clinging to the fabric, but they weren't nearly as bad as before. With a few more tries, the stains had vanished, and Kotta let out a triumphant whoop.

She moved onto a few more spells her parents had recommended, and slowly but surely, they worked. Cleaning her little sister's skirt was nothing spectacular, but she had seen what her parents could do - especially her mother - and knew that one day, it would be something amazing.

Once Kotta had gone through the spells, she figured she might as well put the book away. Besides, snooping around her parents' closet when they weren't around was an opportunity she didn't get too often, let alone with their permission. (Well, not for the snooping around bit, but that was beside the point.)

Once she was back inside, she strolled into her parents' walk-in closet as casually as possible. It was small and cramped and lined with shelves. She put the books away, then looked around as nonchalantly as she could before rummaging through the shelves. Her parents had so many secrets; it was just so hard to resist. Kotta couldn't help but wonder who that brilliant engineer was, or why her grandparents hadn't approved of her parents' marriage, or where Oz was, even. Maybe that's where the other humans were. Maybe she could find some of the answers here.

That was when Kotta spotted a thick, leatherbound book collecting dust on the highest shelf. That looked promising. When she was unable to get to it by standing on her tiptoes, she grabbed one of the brooms and tried to knock it off. To her surprise, the broom rose into the air, taking her with it.

She yelped, but when the broom stopped mid-air with her hanging off of it, she grabbed the book with her free hand.

"Um…could you lower me down now?" she asked the broom cautiously, unsure of whether or not a magical flying broom was something one could actually expect a response from. Still, the broom did as she requested, lowering her slowly till her feet had touched the wooden floors. "…Thank you," she said to the broom, laying it back against the wall.

She flipped through the book and found words and letters she had never seen before. They looked like complete gibberish at first, and Kotta would have just put it back if the letters hadn't clicked together like a puzzle in her head. There was no translation for any of it, but somehow, she knew what each line was meant to do.

That was when the door was flung open, revealing Jinora, wide-eyed and terrified. "Don't touch that!"

"What?" Kotta asked as she felt her father's hands on her shoulders pulling her out of the closet. With a wave of her hand, Jinora sent the book back up to the top shelf.

Kotta pulled away from Kai, turning to face him.

"What were you doing?" he asked, his eyes glistening with fear. She had never seen her father look so angry or upset.

"I…I was…"

"Kotta, we trusted you," Jinora said, her voice on edge. Kotta turned to her mother. "We trusted you," she continued, "and you-"

"All I did was open it!" Kotta said furiously. "And you're the ones who don't trust me! I don't see how knowing about your old friends is possibly too hard for you to talk about!"

"You couldn't possibly know how much more there is to it than that, if you would just-"

"Maybe I could if you'd just tell me!" Kotta yelled. One of the closed windows flew open as a result of some unintentional magic. "I wouldn't have to snoop if you would just tell me who you are! I'm not a child anymore, and I'm tired of you always treating me like I am!"

"Kotta, don't use that tone with your mother," Kai said sternly. She turned back to her father angrily.

"I have every right to be angry," Kotta snapped. "You guys refuse to tell me everything, and then get mad at me when I didn't even know what I was doing wrong!" Kai gave her a pointed look, and Kotta fell silent. She knew she had crossed some sort of invisible line.

"Kotta," Kai began, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Your mother and I will tell you what you want to know when we're ready. We should have been more clear about what you can, and cannot do when it comes to your magic. But have it understood that this will not happen again, okay?"

"Okay," Kotta said meekly.

"Go to your room." She turned back to Jinora, who had her eyes closed and was holding a hand to her temple as if she was trying to get through an especially difficult migraine. "Your dad and I have some stuff to talk about."

Kotta didn't dare disobey, not looking at her parents as she left the room. As soon as she had closed the door, Kai pulled Jinora into a tight hug. He could hear her holding back tears. "I know," he whispered, stroking her hair. His throat felt tight. "I know."

"I should've-" Jinora began, but Kai gently shushed her.

"Don't do that to yourself," he said. "Not now." He guided her over to their small couch, where he sat down and brought his wife into his lap. "I know," he said, holding her tightly as she began to cry into him, her shoulders shaking. And he soon found himself crying too, as he held her against him and tried to find sanctuary in the crook of her neck. Some memories were so heavy to carry for so long. And hiding the burden just made them feel that much more alone sometimes. They wept for the pieces of their lives that they had to keep hidden from their own children. They wept for the people they'd lost that they could no longer mention outside of whispers. And they cried for themselves, and the years of their youth they'd lost playing on opposite sides of someone else's game. As they were covered in one another's tears, they had to wonder if their happily ever after was truly theirs, after years of being haunted by shadows of people and places they could never completely forget or leave behind.

 _You know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where you came from and refuse to tell you where they're going. - P.J. O'Rourke_

Kotta continued to fume in her room, focusing on her anger and her magic as a means to distract herself from her own guilt. She'd heard her parents crying in the living room; their tiny cottage wasn't the best place to find the privacy to release emotions. It wasn't her fault that they were so upset, right? She didn't even know what she'd done wrong. She just wanted to know who her parents were. She wanted to meet other humans, even if she did love the Animals she'd grown up with. She was older now; who could blame her for finally wanting to understand everything she could about the world around her?

Her entire upbringing was a myriad of secrets that had been kept from her, and she was tired of asking questions that no one would answer for her. This was more than just finding out who her parents were now. This was about finding out who she was.

"Kotta?" Gale's voice, cracking on the cusp of pubescence, broke Kotta's concentration, and the book she had been trying to levitate towards the table dropped to the floor. She let out an exasperated sigh.

"What is it?" she asked impatiently, looking towards her little brother.

"What did you do?" Gale asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Kotta said, crossing her arms at him.

"Mom and Dad seem on edge. You must have done something," he said simply.

"Why must you always assume it's me?" Kotta demanded.

"Because you're the one who always has to push for answers," Gale said, crossing his arms back at her. "I'm asking more for Lani's sake than for theirs, anyway. You know how Lani gets upset whenever she senses conflict."

Kotta's face softened, and she dropped her arms back to her sides. "Apparently there's some super forbidden spellbook that I'm not supposed to touch, and I found it. Now Mom and Dad are pissed and they're probably reconsidering teaching me magic, so it hasn't really been a great day for any of us."

"Mom and Dad have a super forbidden spellbook?" Gale let himself into her room and sat next to her on her bed. "Even if I'm suprised they have one, I'm actually not that surprised that you found it," he said with a hint of a smirk.

Kotta shot him a look. "I don't even know why it's forbidden or whatever," she said. "I mean, the words were complete gibberish anyway. It's not like anyone could understand them." Her voice had wavered the slightest bit when she said the last sentence; technically, it had been true, but the way the words had made so much sense without having any real meaning was still stuck at the back of her mind.

"Mom probably could," Gale said. He then looked hard at her. "…You could, too, couldn't you?"

Kotta tried to shrug nonchalantly. "Kind of. Not really. I mean it was…whatever."

"You could understand what the book said and it probably freaked Mom out because somehow that book played a part in whatever secret tragedy happened to them," Gale said, still looking hard at his big sister. "I know it's hard, but I really think you should let this one go. An especially sensitive nerve was hit this time."

"I didn't know!" Kotta exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "Everyone gets mad at me for pushing buttons but I can't avoid pushing said buttons unless people let me know that there are actually any buttons to push at all! Also, zippers are way more efficient. Just saying."

Gale chuckled a bit. "That metaphor sure got away from you there, didn't it?"

"You can't tell me you don't see my point," Kotta replied, crossing her arms again.

"Yeah," Gale admitted, "you're right. Mom and Dad keep a lot from us. And it does make for a somewhat…strained family dynamic, but I've given up on prodding them. Whoever they were before we were all born, it doesn't really matter. They seem to just want to keep moving forward."

"But how can we move forward when we don't even know our history?" Kotta argued. "This isn't even just about learning who Mom and Dad were. This is about finding out who I am…where I came from. And…don't you want to meet other humans? All I've seen is our family. I'm tired of being stuck on this hill with the same people, always seeing the same faces, talking about the same things, when I know there's an entire world out there for me to explore." She sighed, then gave Gale a small smile. "You remember me telling you about Oz, right?"

"Yeah," he said. "'Somewhere over the rainbow,' Uncle Godfrey apparently said. I still don't know how to get so much information out of him."

Kotta grinned. "I'm his favourite."

"You are not!" Gale exclaimed.

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"He's my godfather," Kotta said, ending the argument. "Anyway, haven't you ever wanted to see Oz? See where our parents came from? Where we came from?"

"We came from here," Gale replied simply. "We were born here. We were even conceived here, according to Uncle Godfrey."

"Yes, Uncle Godfrey knows way too much about the details of our conception," Kotta interrupted with a groan. "So what?"

"So, as far as I'm concerned, we're from here," he said softly. "I don't know why you feel the need to go someplace you know next to nothing about when we've got everything we need right here. It's not like our lives are difficult or even unhappy."

"But we're cooped up on this hill and I'm so tired of it," Kotta said. "I want to see what's out there."

Gale slid off her bed and looked at her, his head tilted in thought. "You're not even seeing what we've got here. Look, whatever reason Mom and Dad had for leaving, it was probably a good reason. Their memories don't seem like good ones. What little we know of their childhood is that they were both lonely till they met one another. I don't know about you, but I'm almost never lonely." He gave his sister a weak smile. "Maybe our pasts don't matter so much in the long run. Honestly, I'm satisfied with knowing my parents now. And knowing Lani. And knowing you, even if you do have inexplicable penchant for trouble."

Kotta wrinkled her nose at him, but couldn't suppress her smile as she lightly pushed his shoulder. As much of an annoying goody two-shoes as Gale could be, he wasn't so bad as far as little brothers went. She had an easier time talking to him than anyone else anyway, including some of her closest friends. "I guess you might have a little bit of a point."

Gale chuckled. "A little bit?"

She smirked back at him. "Like, 12% of a point."

He rolled his eyes at her, but still laughed. "Anyway, please talk to Lani. She's so sensitive," Gale said. "And Mom's probably going to try to send me up to get you for dinner again, so it'd be swell if you could save me a trip back here."

"Because Oz forbid you have to take another 20 steps to get all the way from the dinner table to my room," Kotta said with a mocking pout.

Gale rolled his eyes again as he exited the room. "Brat," he teased, not unkindly.

"Suck-up," Kotta called back after him. She sighed and looked down at the book she'd dropped earlier. Even if Gale did have a point, it wasn't enough for her to give up on all of her questions. She had to know where she came from. She wanted to know her grandparents, and her parents' friends, and Oz. Maybe if she could find all that out, she'd have a more complete understanding of herself.

Kotta knew now, that if she truly wanted answers, she couldn't depend on her parents: she'd have to find them herself. Or, perhaps, more specifically, from Godfrey.

Once her punishment (grounded from magic use for a week) was done, Kotta immediately went to the old owl's house and didn't even wait to be let in. "Where's Oz?" she asked, strolling into his kitchen.

Godfrey looked at her in surprise. "Kotta, what are you-"

"Please," Kotta said, looking at her godfather with pleading eyes, "I need to know."

His whiskers twitched nervously. "You know your parents won't be happy with me telling you something like that," he said.

"I don't care," Kotta said a little too loudly. "I can't depend on my parents to answer the questions I have anymore. I need to find them myself."

"And you'll be doing this with or without my help?" the Cat Owl guessed. Kotta nodded, and he sighed. "Fine, then. Oz is far off in the West, a two week journey if you have a flying broom."

Kotta grinned, and threw her arms around Godfrey in a grateful hug. "Thanks so much, Uncle," she said. As she released him, she added, "And not a word to my parents."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Kotta," Godfrey said with a strained smile. He watched as she left, unable to let go of the twinge of guilt threatening to knot in his stomach. He knew she would use that information, and whether he liked it or not, whatever happened next would be his fault.

"Dear Oz, what have I done?"


	3. The Runaway

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

* * *

Chapter Three: The Runaway

* * *

Godfrey flinched when his door flew open and Jinora ran in, looking disheveled. "Godfrey, have you seen Kotta?"

The Cat Owl gulped. "Why?"

"We've looked everywhere and asked everyone where she could be, and we still can't find her," she said. She held her hand up to one of her temples, blinking back fearful tears. "Where could she even have gone?"

Kai rushed in after her, panting. "I looked in our closet again," he began breathlessly. "I just…had a hunch. Two things are missing. Guess which ones."

Tears sprung to Jinora's eyes. "No…"

Godfrey feigned ignorance. "What? What's wrong?"

Kai looked at Godfrey with wide, frantic eyes. "Kotta's gone, and so is the Grimmerie and one of Jinora's enchanted brooms. Oz knows where she'd fly off to."

"She doesn't even know how to fly yet!" Jinora said, tears trickling down her face. Kai took her into his arms and held her tightly. "It took me months to learn on my own. She could be crashing into something or falling or…" She sobbed into her husband's shoulder. "She left after we fought. She left thinking we're still angry at her. Oh Oz…"

Kai rubbed Jinora's back, tears also sliding down his face. "Don't say that," he said, his voice breaking. "We're going to find her. She's going to be okay. She's smart and powerful. We're not losing our daughter."

Guilt and worry washed over Godfrey as he looked upon the distraught parents, and he couldn't stop the words that came from his mouth next. "She's going to Oz."

Kai and Jinora looked up at him at the same time. "What did you say?" Jinora asked.

Godfrey swallowed hard. "She's going to Oz. She asked me where it was yesterday, and I knew she would try to find it whether or not I told her where it was. I thought, at least she won't be lost in someplace totally unfamiliar-"

"No, that's impossible," Kai said. "We never even told her about Oz. How would she know about it?"

The Cat Owl looked around nervously. "I…may have told her a few stories when she was younger… you were always using the word, so she was curious…"

Jinora pulled out of Kai's arms and pushed Godfrey so hard that he slammed his back into one of his bookshelves. He let out a surprised yelp.

"How _could_ you?!" Jinora snapped, an anger in her eyes that Godfrey had never seen before. "You knew we were trying to protect her from what happened to us and you practically sent her off to meet it with _directions_?" She shoved him again, her fingernails digging into his shoulders.

"Jinora, please!" Godfrey said. "She just wanted to know so badly. She's seemed so lost-"

"-and now she's most likely _literally_ lost because her idiot godfather couldn't keep his damn mouth shut!"

"Calm down, Jinora, this isn't like you-"

"Not like me? _Not like me_? I didn't think it was like you to deliberately violate my trust and send my daughter off to uncertain danger, but if you _really_ want to know what a mother can do when one of her children has been placed at risk-"

Kai pulled Jinora away from the Cat Owl, struggling to keep her from lashing out again as she thrashed in his arms. "Jinora! This won't help us find Kotta," he hissed into her ear.

Jinora calmed for a bit, before he released her.

"What Godfrey did was…wrong," Kai said, glaring at Godfrey in a way that made him wonder if he'd be attacked by the other parent, "but we can't just lash at him right now. We've got to find Kotta." He looked at Godfrey. "And _he's_ going to help us."

Godfrey nodded quickly. "Of course. I take full responsibility for this-"

"And he can answer for his actions later," Kai finished, glowering at the Cat Owl. Kai took a deep breath. "I guess there's only one thing to do, now. We have to try to get to her before she arrives in Oz."

"And if she beats us there?" Godfrey said nervously.

"Then we go with her," Jinora answered, taking Kai's hand. It seemed they were going to have to confront their past, whether they wanted to or not.

 _Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands. - Anne Frank_

Flying was everything Kotta thought it would be and more: scary and exciting, kind of like how she imagined the moment right before a first kiss felt. Though her start had been slow and wobbly (she had crashed into so many pine trees that she was growing sick of the smell), she had managed to get herself on a steady path due west. She had stopped a few times to eat (thankfully she had had the foresight to bring some food with her) and rest, but other than that she had flown the whole way. It was already twilight when she spotted a glittering yellow road below her. She flew for a few more miles till that road stopped in a little town sprinkled with colourful houses. It looked like a perfect place to rest for the night.

"Broom, could you lower me down, please?" she asked. She still wasn't entirely sure if the broom had any understanding of verbal requests, but it still lowered her into the brightly-coloured town, with a gentle thud as her feet landed on the road.

She mounted off the broom and patted it gratefully (she dearly hoped it wasn't sentient, but that didn't mean she couldn't be polite to it just in case) before wandering off to look for somewhere to rest.

"Hey," came a voice behind her, and Kotta was so startled she fell over. "Sorry! I didn't mean to frighten you."

She looked up into the face of the person who'd startled her out of her balance, and couldn't help but think that, as far as faces went, this one was actually rather nice to look at. (Granted, she could have also just been happy to see a new human face after years with only Animals for company.) His skin was a light brown, a few shades lighter than her father's. His light green eyes shone gently in the darkness, and his black hair looked perpetually windswept, with a slight curl at the front. He offered her a hand, and hesitantly, she took it. It was warm and slightly calloused, and an unfamiliar warmth flooded through her at the contact. It was weird, and new, and…kind of nice.

"It's fine," Kotta said with a sheepish grin. "Really."

The boy, who seemed a few years older than her maybe, frowned. "Still. Oh, I'm Flint by the way. Flint BeiFong." He stuck out his hand and Kotta shook it eagerly, savoring the strange new warmth that his touch seemed to bring. Was it like this with all other new humans?

"I'm Kotta," she said. "You wouldn't happen to know someplace to stay for the night? I'm, um, from out of town."

That was putting it mildly, she thought, but Flint didn't seem to find anything strange with it.

"My parents should know a place and our house has lots of extra rooms. They're kinda the mayors of Munchkinland."

Kotta got the strangest feeling that he was almost trying to impress her, somehow. "Oh, thank you. I don't want to disturb them though…"

"Don't worry about it," Flint assured her. "They've probably been waiting up for me anyway, they're almost always up at this hour." He offered her his arm, and it looked similar to the way her father would offer his arm to her mother right before a stroll over to Oma and Shu's house.

Tentatively, she wrapped her fingers around his arm, alarmed at the heat that rose to her cheeks as they walked side-by-side in such close proximity.

"Thank you," she said softly, squeezing his arm lightly. His arms were firm with lean muscle. Flint grinned at her and her stomach did a somersault.

"No problem," he said cheerfully. "My parents' house is right over her."

The streetlights were dim, casting shadows over her features. Her eyes, a much darker green than his, with little flecks of gray, sparkled and shone in darkness. He could hardly take his eyes off her face - small, with high cheekbones and softly curving chin, completely olive green. She was almost teal in the moonlight.

"So, where are you from?" he asked, trying to start a conversation as casually as he could.

Kotta's mind froze for a minute, before she said, "…Far away. Like, really far away. I don't even know if it's on any maps, actually."

He chuckled lightly. "Well, wherever it is, it must be really colourful," he said with a wink.

Kotta flushed and laughed back. "No, not really. I mostly grew up with a bunch of Animals. Actually, my family and I are the only humans. You're the first one I've seen outside of my family."

"Oh," he said. "Are you all green?"

"No," Kotta said, shaking her head. The way her wavy hair bounced with each of her movements was kind of endearing. "I mean, we all are except for my dad. I've heard that being green isn't normal, but it's really all I've ever seen."

"Regardless of whether or not it's a normal skin tone, green is a beautiful colour, especially on you," he said, smiling. Kotta found herself blushing even harder. Oz, if it was like this with every new human, she swore she'd get a sensory overload.

"Thanks," she giggled nervously. "You're very nice to look at, too."

He chuckled, blushing himself - wow, the way his cheeks and ears turned pink instead of green was something else - and there was another moment of silence before he asked, "So…any siblings?"

"Two," Kotta said, without skipping a beat. "My younger brother's name is Gale, and he's kind of a suck-up with no sense of adventure, but…" She smiled warmly at the thought of him. "He's not bad as far as brothers go. And my little sister, Lani, is really sweet, and everyone absolutely loves her. Sometimes I kind of wonder how someone so good actually exists," she laughed.

"So you're the eldest?" Flint asked. Kotta nodded. "What a coincidence. So am I. My younger brother's named Basalt, and he's kind hard for my parents to reign in, but he's pretty fun. Also not bad as far as brothers go, I would say. Ah, here we are," he said, stopping at a large house. The colours reminded her of birthday cake and the dolls Lani played with when she was younger, but the architectural flourishes were more ornate that she'd ever imagined a house could be. It looked more like a palace in the storybooks she'd once read as a child, and she was thoroughly enchanted.

" _This_ is where you live?" she gasped, looking from the pastel rooftop trimmings to Flint's face, which was dusted with a light pink. He simply nodded and knocked on the door.

The door flung wide open to a woman with short, windswept hair, and kind green eyes that, at the moment, looked frantic. She looked just a little older than her parents, the creases in her face more permanent than those in her mother's.

"Flint! You've got to stop staying out this late, your father and I-" The woman stopped, staring at Kotta like she'd seen a ghost.

"Sorry, Mom, I was just escorting this lovely young lady. She's from out of town, and needs a place to stay," Flint said, caution creeping into his voice as he looked between his mother and his new friend.

"Um, hi," Kotta gulped, suddenly nervous under this woman's gaze. "I'm really sorry for keeping your son out late."

"No, it's fine," the woman said softly, still staring. "It's just…you remind me so much of someone I knew…" She shook herself out of her trance long enough to beckon them both inside. "Quickly, in here," she said, pulling the kids into the house.

"Now," the woman continued, looking strangely nervous. "You, dear-"

"Kotta," she supplied.

"You… you wouldn't happen to know people named Kai and Jinora, would you?"

"They're my parents," Kotta said slowly. "Did you know them, Mrs. BeiFong?"

The woman looked floored. "Call me Opal, and yes. They were good friends of mine. Flint, can you go get your father? He should be here for this." Flint looked reluctant, but did as his mother told him, running up the stairs off to the left. Opal turned back to the young girl.

"How do you know my parents?" Kotta said excitedly.

"We were friends at school," Opal said distractedly. "But Kotta, do you parents know you're here?" After everything that had happened, Opal had thought she had seen the last of them. Over the past 17 years, she'd hoped that they were doing well, wherever they were. She never dreamed she'd get the chance to see them again, let alone meet their _daughter_.

"…No," Kotta replied sheepishly. "I kind of…I kind of ran away."

Opal sighed. "Oz above, you're lucky Flint found you before anyone else. Your parents must be worried sick, not that I can blame them, after what happened…"

"What do you mean 'lucky'?" Kotta's brow furrowed. "What happened? Please, tell me, I need to know, that's why I came here, to get answers."

Opal placed her hands on Kotta's shoulders, biting her lip. "It's not my story to tell, but let's just say most Ozians don't see green skin as a good thing, Kotta. As for your parents, what have they told you?"

"Barely anything," Kotta said sourly. "They said they met at university and they didn't like each other at first, but got to know each other because they were roommates due to some sort of miscommunication error. And then later that my dad's parents didn't approve of their marriage. But other than that, I don't know a thing."

Opal took a deep breath. "It isn't my story to tell," Opal said again. "I don't know all of it either. I know more than anyone else does, excluding your parents, but still… So here's what we're going to do."

"Opal, is it true?" a man's voice rang out. Kotta assumed it was Opal's husband, Flint jogging behind him. "Kai and Jinora's kid?" The man's face lit up at the sight of her. "You have your dad's eyes, kiddo." He took her hand and shook it. "I'm Bolin, it's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," Kotta said, shaking his hand.

"But, I don't mean to be rude, but how are you here?" Bolin asked, looking to Opal. She whispered something in his ear - a hurried explanation, surely - and his mouth formed an 'o' shape. Bolin cleared his throat. "Your parents can't be far behind, right?"

Kotta nodded. She had gotten maybe a five or six hour start on them, but that was about it.

"We'll wait for them," Opal continued. "You should go get some rest, and we'll sort everything out in the morning. Flint, can you take her to a room?"

The boy smiled. "Sure, come on Kotta."

For a brief second, Kotta hoped he'd offer her his arm again, and shoved the pang of disappointment away when he didn't. He led her up the stairs. "There's some empty rooms right down the hall," Flint explained. He went down the hall with her trailing behind, and turned around, smiling, only for his grin to fade: Kotta was crying. "Um, are you okay?" He mentally slapped himself. What sort of question was that? "Sorry, stupid question. Um…"

"I'm fine," Kotta said, sniffling. She wiped her eyes. "It's just, this whole thing went better in my head, y'know? I'm going to be in so much trouble. And I might not even get a chance to learn everything I want to about my family, or myself, or where I'm from… I might be in the dark about who I am forever."

"Hey," Flint said, putting his hands on her shoulders, then quickly removing them. "You'll…it'll be fine, trust me."

Kotta managed a tiny smile. "Okay."

"And we've still got at least a few hours before your parents arrive, right?" he continued. "That's plenty of time to get you up to speed on Ozian history. I don't know everything, of course, but I know a little. And I know we have some history books. I could show you what I know."

Kotta's smile grew. "Thanks, that's real nice of you."

He grinned. "Of course. Now, let's get going. There should be some books up in the attic." He grabbed her hand, trying to ignore the spark of electricity it sent up his arm.

They climbed a few more flights of stairs, and he had to help Kotta up after tripping a few times ("I've never climbed so many stairs before!" she had said in an awed voice; Flint had to shake his head and smile) before they finally made their way up to the attic. It was dusty and cluttered, but before Flint could apologize for the mess, Kotta had already found a little corner of books to fawn over.

She was drawn to one which a witch's hat on it, titled _The Wicked Witch of the West: A Short History_. "Know anything about her?" Kotta said, pointing to the title.

"A little," Flint said. "She was a vigilante and took a stance against the Wizard - he was the ruler of Oz, but then he retired and my Aunts Korra and Asami took his place. She died shortly before he retired though, after three years of terror. But that's all pretty much anyone knows. She was killed by the Captain of the Guard at the time. We learned a little bit in school, but nobody really talks about her anymore." He sat down next to her and looked at the cover. "My parents never really liked the way her story was taught, for some reason. I asked why, but they wouldn't tell me."

"Looks like parents keeping their kids in the dark is a universal thing, then," Kotta grumbled. "But I don't see how that relates to my parents. Let's keep looking, maybe we can find a yearbook from your mom's university days."

"From Shiz?" Flint said, and she nodded. "I've been there a couple times, or at least, that's where my mom wants me to go."

"It must be nice, to be able to go to a university," Kotta sighed. "I asked if I could go to one a couple of years ago, but of course my parents weren't having it. I don't even think we have a university where we live either."

Flint smiled over at her as he rummaged through another pile of books. "You could go to university here."

Kotta snorted. "I wish. My parents wouldn't even tell me about Oz. I had to wheedle the information out of a family friend…who's probably in a lot of trouble now, if I know my parents at all." He caught her wince, and walked back over to his spot next to her with a few books in hand.

"Like I said, it'll be fine," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She smiled back at him and something about the way her green eyes sparkled made his stomach flutter. Flint cleared his throat. "So, erm, I think I found a yearbook from my mom's third year."

They sat down on the floor side by side, sitting cross-legged. Flint stubbornly ignored the fact that Kotta's knee was brushing his own, and opened up the yearbook. "Lucky they go by first names," Flint said. "Your mom's name is Jinora, right?"

Kotta nodded as Flint flipped through the yearbook. "It's funny," she said, "I actually don't know my mom's maiden name. I guess that's another thing they didn't bother to mention to me," she grumbled. Flint flipped to the J-section of the yearbook, and they scanned through the pages till they found a picture of a frowning young woman with a long braid hanging over her shoulder. She was hunched over and overall looked as though she'd rather be anywhere else. Under the small greyscale portrait was the caption, "Jinora Thropp".

Kotta laughed. "Yeah, that's my mom, alright," she said. "Although she smiles a lot more often now, I promise."

"I'll take your word for it," Flint laughed. He eyed the last name again. Why did it seem familiar?

"Oh!" Flint looked over at Kotta, who was flipping through the pages of a rather thick journal. "It's a record of all the governors of Munchkinland!"

Flint laughed, if only to keep himself from groaning. "Oz, my parents made me look through that a million times when I was 15," he said. "It's literally just a list of names that people can hardly remember."

"It's still history," Kotta said, quickly flipping to the end. "Besides, I want to see if I can find any of your ancestors in here."

"You're just going to find my parents, unfortunately," Flint said with a shy grin. "My family only began ruling Munchkinland about 17 years ago, when the Captain of the Guard back then put my parents in power. I still can't remember the name of the family that was in power before us…"

"…Thropp."

"What?" Flint looked at Kotta, who was now staring at the last page of the journal.

"The governor before your parents was named Ikki Thropp," she said quietly. "She must have been related to my mom… Mom never mentioned her, though." Then she remembered being 12 years old, hearing her mother's muffled sobs of "Ikki," from behind her parents' bedroom doors. "Maybe they were sisters. What happened to Ikki, anyway?"

"I'm not sure," Flint said. "But I think I remember reading how she died somewhere." He pulled open the nearest textbook, his eyes trailing down the table to contents. "Here she is, the Thropp family. Their dad was Tenzin, Ikki was the younger sister." His eyes widened. "And she was, um, kinda crushed by a house."

"What?" Kotta leaned over to get a closer look at the book, and Flint found it hard to ignore how close she was to him. "How is that even possible?"

"Um… There was a cyclone, apparently," he said. "Oh, wait, it's _the_ Cyclone."

Kotta raised an eyebrow at him. " _The_ Cyclone?"

"Super imaginative name, I know," he chuckled. "This cyclone was kind of a big deal in Ozian history. Along with bringing in the house that crushed your…aunt…sorry…" he said with a grimace.

"I never really knew her, obviously," Kotta said with a shrug. "Still, poor Mom."

"So along with that," he continued, "this cyclone also brought a girl named Dorothy Gale from a land called Kansas, and she ended up getting kidnapped by the Wicked Witch of the West. Somehow the Captain of the Guard ended up in the middle, but because of Dorothy, that was why the witch was finally killed."

"Violent history," Kotta said, turning the page. "Do you know who the Captain of the Guard was? Or the Wicked Witch of the West? It must have been important to my mom, if it related to my aunt's death."

Flint flipped through a few more pages, before his eyes landed on a paragraph. "Well, firstly," he said in a somewhat strained voice, "your aunt was apparently referred to as the Wicked Witch of the East." He looked back up at her. "I'm really sorry. We can stop if you-"

"No," Kotta said, shaking her head. "I've never known this much about my family before. Keep going."

"Well, you're the niece of the Wicked Witch of the East," he said again, trying not to grimace - how could someone that seemed so sweet be related to someone infamous for their wickedness? - "and the Captain of the Guard is…" He flipped through a few more pages, before landing on another name that looked way too familiar. "Um, Kotta?" he asked, his voice rising a bit. "What was your dad's name again?"

"Kai," she answered simply. "Kai Upland."

"That's…a really crazy coincidence," he said, pointing to the relevant paragraph. He heard her gasp sharply near his ear.

"The Captain of the Guard was…my dad?" She had to lean back a bit, bumping against the shelf behind them.

"That can't be, though," Flint said, scanning the page again. "Captain Kai Upland died in a Satomobile accident 17 years ago. There's no way this is the same guy as your father."

Kotta looked at the picture next to the paragraph. Even in greyscale, there was no mistaking it. "No, that's him. So… my dad faked his death. Why? I mean, my parents said his parents didn't approve of their marriage, but that hardly seems like a reason to pretend to be dead."

Her head was reeling. What did this all mean? She had come to Oz to find answers, not to be given more questions. She held a hand to her temple. Maybe her mother's history wouldn't be so tangled. Other than having someone called the Wicked Witch of the East for a sister, but still.

"Is there anything on my mom?" she asked.

"Other than being related to the previous two governors of Munchkinland, no," he said, shrugging sadly. "Although, we could try to see what happened after she graduated. I can find my mom's yearbook for her last year."

Flint found it no time, and he flipped to the 'J' page. "That's weird," he paused, scanning the rows of people again to make sure he hadn't missed something. "Your mom's not here this year."

"What?" Kotta's eyes glanced down carefully through the page, and Flint followed her line of sight. "That's so weird. Here, flip over a few pages." He flipped to the 'K' page and she stopped him once she saw her dad's name. "See, it says that he became a sorcerer for the Wizard and graduated early. I may not know my mom's history, but I know her well enough to know that if my dad was able to graduate early, she would've been able to do it also, but blindfolded."

"Your mom's a really good sorcerer?" Flint guessed.

"My dad says she's the best he's ever known," she said. "Honestly, it's one of the few things either of my parents have said that I still believe."

"Maybe she dropped out?" Flint suggested. "Or took a different job. Let's see if Ikki's in here."

They flipped through the yearbook and found Ikki's picture. She looked very pale (though that could have just been the greyscale), and her hair was twisted into two buns atop her head. She had a wide smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, and a demure, upturned nose. Kotta couldn't help but notice that she had the same smile as her mom, and the shape of her eyes looked almost exactly like Lani's. Maybe they were the same colour, too.

"It says she had to take a leave of absence to become governor," Flint said, reading the little inscription under her name. "It looks like maybe your mom dropped out, there's no mention of her here at all."

"My _mom_? Lover of all knowledge? I don't think so," Kotta said, grabbing the textbook again. "If my dad was someone important in Ozian history, she had to have been, too. There has to be something." She turned the pages when a leaflet fell out. It was old, the pages tainted with yellow, depicting a warty old woman with green skin and a black hat. "What the-?"

Kotta's brow furrowed as she opened the leaflet. _Attention, all citizens of Oz, a dangerous criminal, known widely as the Wicked Witch of the West, is on the loose. If you see her, report it immediately to the authorities. She may be going by fake names, however, her real one is…_

Her heart stopped. It didn't make any sense. But there was her mother's name, staring up at her. A lump formed in her throat.

"Kotta, what's wrong?" Flint said gently.

"It's not possible…" Her hands shook as she handed him the leaflet.

Flint took it, scanning the leaflet quickly. He stopped at the name, then flipped back and forth between the cover and the text.

"…Jinora Thropp. As in, your mom?"

Kotta gulped noisily and nodded.

"No," Flint said, shaking his head a little too hard. "First of all, Captain Kai killed her. She _melted_. And secondly," he said, holding up the illustration, "there's no way you're related to someone who looks like _that_."

"I'm not," Kotta said in a wavering voice. "My mom doesn't look like that. She's beautiful, and has barely aged since her university days if the pictures are right. But that's my mom's name, and I'm going to have to assume it's not some crazy coincidence if my aunt was the Wicked Witch of the East and my dad was Captain of the Guard." She drew her knees up to her chest and rocked back and forth, trying keep herself from either crying or throwing up. Probably both. With each answer came more questions, and learning the truth wasn't nearly as freeing as she thought it would be. She felt like she was suffocating. "No wonder your mom doesn't want me running into anyone else."

Flint couldn't help himself as he wrapped an arm around Kotta's shoulders, gently stroking her shoulder. She just looked so small, so scared and distraught. "There's got to be an explanation for all of this," he said.

"Is there? I feel like every new piece of information we find is more confusing and scary than the last. My aunt, who I've never even heard of before, was the most oppressive governor in Munchkinland's history? My father was Captain of the Guard, loved by all, but according to the textbook, he spent a lot of time rounding up Animals. Flint, we _live_ with Animals. My godfather's an Animal. And my mom…" She swallowed at the lump that was rising in her throat. "No wonder they don't talk about what happened after college." She looked at Flint, her eyes a little too bright. "This means that they were enemies. My dad worked directly under this Wizard or whatever he was called, and my mom fought against him… how did they end up married?"

"Kotta!" She recognized it as Opal's voice. "Kotta! Flint!" Kotta wondered how long they had been in the attic - for a few hours at least, digging through textbooks. "They're here!"

Kotta picked up the leaflet and stood up, shaking. She tried to reel in her emotions when the door burst open. Jinora ran in first, sweeping her daughter into a tight hug. Kai joined immediately afterwards, wrapping his arms around both of them.

"Thank Oz you're safe," Jinora whispered, kissing the top of Kotta's head. Jinora pulled away, her smile melting into a glare. "What in Oz's name were you thinking? No, you obviously weren't thinking at all, you-" Then she noticed the pamphlet in Kotta's hand, and looked up into her daughter's eyes. There was a weight in them now.

Jinora's eyes filled with tears and she shared a look with Kai, who instantly knew what she was thinking.

Opal reached the threshold of the attic, struggling to break the silence with a timid offer of, "Perhaps we could continue this downstairs?" She tried not to stare at her old friends as they passed, their daughter walking in between them. They looked so different, older, wiser, sadder and happier all at the same time.

Flint looked at her nervously. "Mom?"

"You can stay if you want to," Opal said. "There will be consequences for what you and Kotta have done, however. You shouldn't have helped her pry."

Flint nodded. "Okay."

Without another word, he followed his mother to the kitchen, where he joined Kotta's family, a Cat Owl, and his father.

Kai placed his arm around Jinora's shoulders, sighing heavily. He stared hard at his daughter. "So, what do you know?"


	4. A Part of the Story

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

* * *

Chapter Four: A Part of the Story

 _We carry accumulations of years in our bodies, and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are innocent and shy as magnolias. - Maya Angelou_

"Well, I guess I know who Ikki is now," Kotta said weakly. She stared at her feet, not wanting to see her mother's face. "And there was a Wizard, and you both…" she swallowed hard. "You were on opposite sides. How?"

Jinora inhaled deeply. "I guess you had to know sooner or later." She reached for Kai's free hand and squeezed it. "You already know a little bit about how we met. We both made horrible first impressions. Your father nearly ran me over with a chariot."

"I said maybe the driver thought green meant go," Kai remembered, chuckling.

"I wasn't assigned to a room, due to a mix-up. I had come to Shiz expecting to room with my sister, but my father had forgotten to mention me in the letter. So our headmistress, Madame Hou-Ting," Jinora made a face like she'd eaten something bitter, "assigned me to your father's room. It was unconventional and awkward and completely inappropriate," she smiled, "luckily."

"Your mother," Kai said, "was rude. And angry. And determined to hate me."

"And your father was a messy, inconsiderate, complete ass," Jinora said fondly. They both looked at one another for a moment, eyes shining with total adoration. Kotta couldn't help but smile; she'd seen them give each other that look before (and gagged every time she would see the "bedroom eyes" variant), but she'd never had such a close look into their lives before her till then.

"We...tried really hard to dislike each other," Kai said, holding back a laugh. "But a few weeks in, there was a moment when I couldn't stop staring at her. She was wearing this frumpy old nightgown and she was so irritated at me for staring. She thought I was looking because of her skin, but I was entranced with something else; it was something in her eyes, I think. I didn't know it back then, but it was in that moment that I fell in love with your mother."

Jinora turned to him in surprise. "You never told me that story. That early?"

"I wish I'd realized it at the time," Kai said, looking back at her. "It would've saved us a lot of trouble."

Jinora chuckled softly, rolling her eyes before looking back at Kotta. "We tried - and failed - to hate one another, and eventually settled into a distant kind of acquaintanceship with one another. I helped him with his history papers, at the request of my favourite…" her voice faltered, and her eyes fell to the floor. "...my favourite professor. Dr. Laghima."

Kai squeezed her hand. "I know," he said softly, pressing a quick kiss to her hair. Jinora squeezed his hand back and took a deep breath.

"He taught history," Jinora continued. "But soon, Kai would decide he'd have enough of studying, and decided to throw a party."

"At the Ozdust Ballroom," he said wistfully. "Your mother's sister, Ikki…" Kai pushed on. "Had convinced her to go. And your mother, well, she wasn't a very good dancer." Jinora lightly slapped him on the arm, grinning. "It's true," he insisted. "Little did I know, helping Ikki out with having a fun night had gotten me into your mother's good graces, so she had gotten me into the sorcery seminar. And in return, I made one of the best decisions of my entire life: I walked over to her, and started dancing with her."

"Everyone was laughing at me until he did," Jinora said, smiling appreciatively. "Although…" she turned and narrowed her eyes at him playfully. "He might not have needed to if he hadn't given me that hat."

"Hey, it was a good hat on you!" he said, laughing. "I'll admit, one of my friends at the time told me to give it to your mom, and looking back, she was probably trying to pull some prank on her through me-"

"And you fell for it," Jinora teased.

"-but it led to me dancing with your mother at the party, and that's when we really became friends, so I'm glad I did it."

Jinora smiled, leaning her head against his shoulder. "It's still my favourite hat." She sighed, stroking the back of Kai's hand with her thumb. "We snuck into the kitchen and told each other secrets that night, and he tried to teach me how to dance. I had never had a best friend before, and up until that point, it was the best night of my life. And...I think that's when I, unwittingly, fell in love with your dad. Or at least when I first started to fall for him."

"And well, it wasn't too long after that we realized we had feelings for each other. And then denied having them, too. Our history professor…" He squeezed Jinora's hand again as she leaned harder into his shoulder. "Our history professor got into some trouble after we did an experiment. Animals weren't treated well in Oz back then, and your mom and I wanted to change that. We did an experiment to prove that Animals and humans were essentially the same - Opal helped us with it too - but...our headmistress didn't like that. He was dismissed, and that day we got a new professor who was trying to hurt a Moose Lion cub. We got him out, thankfully, and that same day, we realized that we were falling in love. We were young and scared, so we didn't say anything at the time."

Jinora's smile faltered. "And then it seemed like in no time at all, we were heading to the Emerald City, the home of the Wizard." Jinora's tone grew biting as she said, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Kai laced his fingers through hers, bringing her hand up to his lips and kissing the back of it. Jinora's lips twitched upwards.

"Your mom was the best and brightest sorcerer of her age. Probably still is," he added with a small smile. "So the Wizard wanted to meet her personally, to make her his magic grand vizier. We were both so excited. And I remember thinking we could be what we are now."

Jinora reached up to wipe her eyes. "And then, when we met the Wizard… it became very clear that he wasn't what we thought he was. He was a liar. He was the one persecuting the Animals. And the book you took, Kotta, was what he needed me for. I was the only one who could read it."

Kotta reached into her book bag, feeling the hardcover of the forbidden spell book. It suddenly felt much heavier at her side.

"Your mom didn't like that," Kai continued, "and she was brave enough to turn down all of the Wizard's offers and stand against him… I wasn't that brave." His voice cracked.

Jinora stroked his hand with her thumb, their eyes meeting. "That was the first time we had to say goodbye to one another." She took a shaky breath. "I - I'm sorry, I think that's all we can say for tonight, sweetheart."

Kotta grabbed her mother's free hand. "I understand, Mom," she said thickly. "I do, really. Thank you. I'm sorry, too."

"You're all free to stay here for as long as you need to," Opal said. "It's late, and it's been an emotional evening. Kai, Jinora…" she smiled. "It's good to see you. There's a guest room upstairs."

While Kotta decided to stay in one of the rooms across from Flint's, Opal took them to the upper floor, down two hallways to a large room, empty except for a bed and a dresser. Jinora turned back to her old friend. "Thank you, Opal, truly."

Opal smiled. "Of course Jinora, Kai, anytime."

Jinora closed the door, and faced Kai, who wordlessly pulled her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, burying her face in his neck, her shoulders shaking. Tears fell from Kai's eyes and landed in her hair. He rubbed small circles into her back, trying to keep himself from outright sobbing.

"You should get some sleep," he whispered hoarsely.

"I was so stupid," she cried into his neck. "I tried keeping the truth from her and nearly put her in danger and got angry at Godfrey and now it's coming out and I can't-"

"Shh." Kai hushed her gently, briefly kissing her hair. "We both did. At least you only wanted to protect her," he said, his voice breaking. Kai drew away, his throat burning. "I-I didn't want her to have to know about…"

He had spent many years getting over his shame. Some days, Kai wondered if he would ever truly put it behind him. What he had done, what he hadn't done, what he had allowed to happen. There were days he could hardly leave the house to see the neighbours, all part of the people he had once helped to persecute because of his own cowardice. There were still a few Animals who held grudges against him, those who had lost family members due to his inability to stand against the Wizard. He took a shaky breath.

Jinora pulled away slightly to look up at him. She smiled sadly, already knowing what he was thinking. "Kai…"

"We're going to have to tell her the next part tomorrow," he said, trying to choke back a sob. "The part where I live in constant betrayal of you for three years. Where I hurt the Animals, the people we _live_ with. Oz above, what will she think of me?"

She pressed against him again, this time allowing him to bury his face in her neck. "We'll just have to do it together," she said, her voice breaking.

"I'm not strong enough. I'm not strong enough to tell her the truth," he whispered against her skin, his shoulders shaking.

"Yes, you are," she insisted. "You've always been strong. And you're not doing this alone. We have each other. We're doing this together, okay?" She pulled Kai's head down slightly to kiss his forehead. "No matter what, Kotta's going to know that she has two parents that love each other and her very much. Okay?"

He looked into her eyes, which he could tell, even in the dark, were also glistening with tears. "Okay." She reached up and wiped away a tear that was trickling down his cheek.

She took him by the hand and they crawled into the bed, under the thick, clean covers, and held one another. Jinora curled into him, wrapping her arms around his torso, as they cried into each other, the emotional toll of the day - of the past few weeks, really - finally caught up with them. It was a long time till either of them were able to drift off to sleep.


	5. Old and New Friends

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

* * *

Chapter Five: Old and New Friends

* * *

 _We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it. - Rick Warren_

Kotta had woken up uncharacteristically early that morning, unable to completely drift off after the revelations of the previous night. There was quite possibly a little guilt in there, too; her parents really weren't lying when they had said earlier that they weren't ready. Did they feel ready now? Or had they just been forced to start sharing the truth after Kotta had finally pushed them over the edge?

As she kicked the bed covers off of her, she swallowed resolutely. Even if that was the case, it was too late to turn back now.

She felt a little cold in the nightgown she'd packed (she kind of wanted to smack herself for packing so little; a book bag's worth of supplies would have been concerning if Flint hadn't found her), so she took one of the thinner blankets off the bed and wrapped it around her before slowly opening the door.

She exited the room and was about to turn the corner when she heard the knob of Flint's door click. She turned around and met his friendly, but sleepy, smile.

"Are you always up this early?" she whispered.

"No," he whispered back, "but everything your parents talked about last night made me want to go back up to the attic and look through some of the history books again."

"Didn't you get in trouble for helping me snoop around?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Yes," he said, "so did you."

"Yeah, but these are my family secrets to snoop around at and get in trouble for." She smiled. "Look, I like you. I mean, you're my friend, and stuff," she said quickly. "I don't want to get you in trouble again."

"I still want to help," Flint insisted. "You're going to laugh at me, but...I've never really broken any rules before."

"No. Really?" Kotta asked with a smirk.

"See?" Flint said with a sheepish grin. "I never really had a reason to before, and with Basalt always running around - I think you'll get to meet him today, he sleeps when he's not causing trouble, you'll like him - I sort of felt like I had to be the responsible kid, you know?"

"That's probably how I make Gale feel," she said with a nod. She had to wonder how he and Lani were doing, anyway. They were probably staying with Oma and Shu. Gale was definitely going to give her such a verbal lashing when she got home.

"And my life was good. Maybe a little predictable, but good. And then...you flew in," he said, smiling sincerely. "So far, you've made Oz a little more interesting."

Kotta blushed a little, and tucked back a wavy strand of hair self-consciously. "Are you sure you want to help?"

He beamed at her. "Positive."

A smile crept onto Kotta's mouth, and she had to bite her lip to keep from grinning too hard. "Lead the way, then."

He offered his arm the way he had the evening before, and she took it eagerly, savouring his warmth and the sensation of butterflies in her stomach. She'd have to find out why that happened around him later. Maybe she could ask her mom? Or Opal?

They made their way up the stairs into the attic like they had before - stairs were still difficult - and plopped down near the pile of books they'd disrupted last night.

As they rummaged through books and flipped through pages, the knot of guilt tightened in Kotta's stomach. Kotta put a hand on Flint's arm just before he could immerse himself in that Wicked Witch of the West book they'd found earlier, and he looked up at her.

"What is it?" he asked, tilting his head at her. She tried to ignore the endearing way the curl at the front of his head flopped the tiniest bit.

"I just… Am I a bad person for forcing my parents to tell me all their deep dark secrets that no one even knew before?" she asked quickly, chewing on her bottom lip.

"What? No," Flint replied immediately. "They can't keep you in the dark forever, right? Besides, it's not like you knew what you'd be digging up. You had no idea it was like… this, right?"

Kotta shook her head, drawing her blanket tighter around her shoulders. "It never seemed like it was just my dad's parents' disapproval… I used to wonder what could possibly be so bad, but I never dreamed it was _this_ bad. No wonder they tried to keep it a secret, especially from my younger sister. She's really sensitive, you know."

Flint looked at the book he was holding thoughtfully, then back up to Kotta. "Well, if anyone's ready for the truth, it's you. Seriously, I never would have had the guts to seek out the truth like you are."

Kotta grinned self-consciously. "I just...wanted to figure out who I am, you know? I thought it'd be easier if I actually knew something about the people who raised me." Her smile faded. "I'm just worried that the truth might end up making this whole self-discovery thing even more confusing."

"Well, whoever you are," Flint said, rubbing the back of his neck as a blush crept onto his cheeks, "I think you're pretty great."

Kotta's face burned, and she made an effort to look anywhere but Flint's face. "Oh," she said, her eyes landing on the book he was holding. She frowned. "I guess this has a lot more to do with my family than I previously thought."

They both looked at the book solemnly. The front cover of _The Wicked Witch of the West: A Short History_ felt heavy in his hand as he opened it. The book was filled with wildly inaccurate pictures and far-fetched anecdotes ("My mom _loves_ baths, and how would she stay clean if water melted her anyway? Who _wrote_ this?"), and Kotta couldn't help but laugh. It just seemed so distant, this caricature of someone who was supposed to portray her mother, presented as an old, warty woman, cackling into the skies and striking fear into the hearts of Ozians. Her mother was strict and often high-strung, but the idea of anyone believing she was anything but a loving person was so laughable to her.

"You sure are in a good mood for someone that just found what's essentially propaganda about her mother," Flint teased.

"It's not like that!" Kotta giggled, swatting his arm lightly. "It's just...you've seen my mom. The only people that have any legitimate reason to fear her are me and my siblings if we've pulled a prank on the Badgermole kids again. I just can't believe anyone actually bought all this crap about her."

"I've heard that the Wizard was a very persuasive man," Flint said with a shrug.

"And my dad! He said he'd fallen in love with Mom pretty early on. Why would he allow people to say such things?"

Their laughter faded, and their smiles evaporated. "Maybe he didn't really have a choice," Flint said solemnly. He rested his hand on Kotta's shoulder. "I guess we'll find out soon enough."

 _The past is never where you think you left it. - Katherine Anne Porter_

The kettle whistled sharply as footsteps pounded against the stairs. Jinora and Kai had gotten up early, unable to sleep restfully, and once Opal and Bolin were up, insisted on helping make breakfast. In spite of the circumstances of their visit, Jinora had to admit that this was nice; she hadn't had much of a chance to get to know Opal very well even in university, so bonding with her without all the barriers of an oppressive government was proving almost too easy. Other than Ikki and a few Animal friends, she'd never had a female friend to really talk to before. They talked about the most mundane things - raising children, different methods of elementary and secondary education, dusting strategies, homemade treatments for colds - and it almost felt like she had been transported to an alternate reality where the Wizard had never existed, and where her green skin hadn't proven to be such an issue. Where she was just a normal person, with friends and a husband and children.

Bolin was friendly, too, and she thought it was sweet how he regarded Kai as a little brother. Even if he asked a lot of questions and was almost _too_ nice, Jinora decided that she liked him, too, and that she was glad to have finally met him properly.

The adults turned around to see which child had woken up that day, and saw a young boy with bright green eyes and tousled black hair, yawning on his way down.

"Basalt!" Bolin exclaimed, rushing over with a hug for his younger son. "Say hi to our guests!"

The boy gave them a puzzled look, giving a little wave. "Um, hi. Uh… where's Flint?"

"He might be with Kotta," Bolin said thoughtfully. "Could you go get them for us?"

Basalt frowned, his eyes going over to Kai and Jinora again, before he nodded. "Sure." He raced back up the stairs.

Opal gave Jinora a sheepish smile. "Sorry," she said, "that one's not quite as friendly. We're working on it."

Jinora laughed. "It's no problem, our second kid has trouble opening up, too. They must be around the same age. Basalt's around 14?"

Opal nodded. "And Flint's 18 this summer." A rather knowing look came into her eye. "It's lucky that Flint found Kotta before anyone else did. They seem to have hit it off."

Jinora smiled while Kai raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean-" he started, but then was interrupted when Basalt re-entered the kitchen, followed by Flint and Kotta.

"Sorry! We were in the attic again and lost track of time," Kotta said, plopping down into a seat at the dining table. Flint took the one next to her.

Kai crossed his arms. "Doing what?"

"...Reading?" Kotta said. "Just trying to prepare myself for...whatever I might hear."

Kai's expression softened as he remembered the real reason they were here. "Oh. Right."

"Basalt, honey," Opal said. "Would you mind telling the Council we're taking a few days off? Besides, you're a bit too young for this story, anyway. You might need to go as well Flint, now that I think of it-"

"Can he stay?" Kotta blurted out, and then she blushed deeply. "I, uh, mean he's already heard the beginning. And he's older than me, anyway."

Opal and Jinora exchanged a knowing glance, while Kai frowned. "Of course sweetie," Jinora replied. Opal set a few full plates of pancakes in front of the kids while Jinora and Bolin prepared some tea and coffee. Kai stared hard at Flint as if sizing him up, who looked extremely uncomfortable under his stare.

"Also, I hope you don't mind, but...I kind of invited a few old friends over," Bolin said.

Everyone looked to him, and Opal crossed her arms. "Bolin, you know we can't blow their cover-"

"No, you'll all be glad I invited them, I promise," Bolin said, jogging over to the door to peek through the window. "We should be able to see them any minute now."

Opal sighed. "I guess we'll have to make more pancakes. Kai? Jinora?"

With a small grin, Jinora pulled Kai away from his stare-down with Flint (the boy looked very relieved) to help Opal make more batter. A few extra plates of pancakes had been prepared when Bolin exclaimed, "They're here!" and flung the door open.

Opal rushed over toward the door. "Bolin, you have to be more careful! We have two people who were _legally ruled dead_ in our house and we don't even know who - Korra!"

"Korra?" Kai repeated, a smile spreading over his face as the woman gave him a tackle hug. "Korra!" he laughed, hugging her back. Korra let go of him, reaching up to ruffle his hair. "I'm taller than you now," he realized.

"You're so old now," she pointed out. "Besides - Naga, come here! She's taller than all of us."

"Uncle Kai!" Before he could say anything, he was tackled to the floor by a large mass of fur. He could hear everyone else laughing. "Sorry!" Naga said, getting off of him. "I keep forgetting it's been nearly two decades since I've been able to do that without injuring anyone," she said sheepishly.

Jinora helped Kai off the floor. "It's fine," he said, looking up at Naga. She was at least a head taller than him, and her snout had grown longer. She was no longer the short, chubby ball of white fluff he'd known as a young man, but tall and bulky with muscle. Still, the twinkle in her black eyes remained unchanged.

He hugged her again. "It's so good to see you, Naga," he said, his throat tightening.

"You, too, Uncle Kai." Once Naga released him, Asami came in behind her, giving him a much gentler hug.

Korra walked over to Jinora and Opal as Kai, Naga, Asami, and Bolin caught up. "So," Korra said, "you must be the famous Jinora."

"What gave it away?" Jinora said with a small smile, and Opal couldn't help but laugh. Korra spread her arms out in an offering of a greeting hug.

"It's great to finally meet you," she said.

Jinora accepted her offer, leaning into the hug. "You, too, Korra." Something about her and Korra seemed to "click" in that moment; a strange, new platonic connection, one she had never truly experienced with a friend before. A calm warmth settled in her stomach, as she pulled away from the hug and Korra beamed at her.

Naga smiled widely at her. "I've heard a lot about you," the Polarbear Dog said. "Aunt Jinora."

Jinora grinned. "Me too."

Introductions flew by between Kotta and the rest. It was nice to finally know who that brilliant engineer was, and Naga, although much older (around 24 years old) was undeniably cool, with her pierced ear and crooked grin. There was also a man named Mako, with amber eyes and pointy eyebrows - Bolin's brother, Kotta remembered. Even Godfrey slipped back in, uncharacteristically silent.

Kotta had never seen Kai look so happy, surrounded by all of his old friends. Jinora too was grinning widely, talking and catching up with the rest of them - the abridged version anyway, after 17 years apart.

Once all the pancakes were finished, Jinora frowned, remembering why they were there. Why they had come back to Oz, and now, what they had to relive. Her hand found Kai's as they all gathered around the kitchen table.

"So, as you know, we're all here thanks to Kotta's little...misadventure," Jinora said, glancing at her daughter. Kotta smiled sheepishly. "And even though it's hard, we figured this was as good of an opportunity as any to tell the real story. The one that you've all only had bits and pieces of, but never fully been privy to, till now. And though Kotta's behavior was totally unacceptable… we realize that we should have come clean a long time ago."

Kotta smiled apologetically at her parents. It wasn't completely their fault for not telling her the whole story, and after everything that had happened, Kotta wasn't sure she wanted to hear the whole thing. But now that she was here, she knew she had to see it through to the end, just like how her parents had been forced to live with their choices, she would live with hers.

"Last night, we left off with our trip to Emerald City; everything that could have gone wrong went wrong, and right after we had our first kiss at the top of the Wizard's palace, we…" Kai's voice hitched, and Jinora squeezed his hand. "We had to say goodbye. For the first time."

Kotta almost pointed out that they had already said that, but sensed it wasn't her time to speak. _For the first time._ She wondered how many more times they were.

She found her hand going for Flint's, who gave it a squeeze before she quickly let go, giving him a flash of a smile in thanks, before she turned her attention back to her parents.

"For three years, we were on completely different paths. Different sides of Oz's political struggle. While Jinora was rallying the Animals together to fight for justice, I was…" Kai swallowed loudly. "I was arresting them. Sometimes sending them to be tortured, or put to…put to death. I did all of the Wizard's bidding, as one of his guards and one of his sorcerers. In the beginning, I tried to speak out and spread some form of the truth, but the press secretary, our old Headmistress Hou-Ting, threatened me. I wasn't brave enough. So I did nothing while they spread lies and rumours to discredit Jinora and the Animals."

Kai trembled as he spoke, with Jinora rubbing his back gently the entire time. He didn't look at anyone; he didn't want to look at anyone and see the shock and disappointment in their faces. Even Korra and Mako, who knew from first-hand experience of the moral sacrifices that had come with working for the Wizard, had no idea that Kai had had a hand in such underhanded dealings.

Kai took a deep breath, his eyes stinging, his throat painfully tight. It was hard to breathe. It was only made easier when Jinora leaned in and kissed the top of his head, giving his hand a squeeze. Kai's lips twitched upwards despite himself, but he still didn't look up. He didn't think he could bear to see his daughter's reaction to the worst part of his life.

"My father retired shortly after I left, unbeknownst to me for another year or so," Jinora said shakily. "My sister, Ikki, was made governess of Munchkinland. I became an ally and a friend to many of the Animals, including Oma, Shu, and Godfrey." She inclined her head in the Cat Owl's direction, silently letting him know he was forgiven for any of the harm he had caused.

"As for those I had left behind, and more specifically, Kai, I never reached out to him. I was doing my best to protect him, although I was also running away from how I felt about him." She stroked Kai's hand with her thumb as she spoke. "I threw myself into my cause. Godfrey became one of my closest allies, tracking me wherever I went. I did what I could; I rescued Animals from captivity, I organized protests, I even helped with planning some of our attempts to infiltrate the Wizard's palace. They...never succeeded…" Jinora sniffled, raising her head high even as her eyes glistened with tears, and Kotta was suddenly struck with how _strong_ her mother was. Kotta had always known her mother was strict, and smart, but she had never understood the resilience or the strength her mother held, until now.

"I did everything I could," she continued, "but I realized that we weren't enough on our own. So after three years of fighting on my own, I went to see Ikki." Her voice broke. "Lani looks a lot like her, when her hair's in pigtails." Jinora almost smiled. "I went to ask for my father's support, but...she informed me that he had retired earlier." Jinora swallowed at the lump in her throat. "So I asked Ikki for her help. But...she had changed. She wasn't the funny, energetic young girl I had grown up with anymore. She was...distant. Cold. The loss of me, and my father, had hardened her."

She let out a ragged sigh. "Ikki had been wheelchair-bound for her whole life up to that point, and she was angry at me for not using my magic to give her the ability to walk. So, I enchanted her shoes. She was so excited," Jinora said, almost smiling. It faded before it could really take hold on her face. "But she had plans other than helping me. She was...she was in love with Kai, too."

Kotta's eyes widened, and she stared at her father, who was still stubbornly looking at the floor. She could see him swallow hard. Kotta looked to Opal, and the others, who looked just as surprised.

"She wanted to go to Emerald City and tell him how she felt," Jinora said. "But her assistant, a man named Otaku, had been in love with her ever since we all went to school together. He tried to stop her, but Ikki got upset by the unwanted attention, took the Grimmerie - that's the book you took with you, Kotta - and turned to a spell that would turn his heart away from her. She pronounced the words wrong, and his heart shrank. I did what I could to save him, by turning his body to tin… so - so that's why I was so upset when I saw you had it, Kotta."

She thought back to the Grimmerie, tucked away in her bookbag in her guest room, and nearly shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if she hadn't been careful, if her mother hadn't come before she could even think of trying out a spell. Part of Kotta wanted to cry.

"I understand, Mom," she said shakily, and she shared the tiniest smile with her mother.

"That was the last time I would see Ikki," Jinora said in the smallest voice Kotta had ever heard. "She was so angry at me." Kai kissed her temple, and she leaned into his shoulder.

"Afterwards," Kai said so softly, Kotta almost didn't hear him, "Ikki came to visit me in the Emerald City. She...she proposed to me. She presented it as a political marriage," he said quickly, "but...she also told me how she felt. About me. And I couldn't accept it." She sighed, squeezing Jinora's hand. "I just couldn't get Jinora out of my head, even after three years. So, I turned Ikki down. I had hoped...I had hoped, somehow, it would work out between her and Otaku. Unfortunately...that was the last I would see of her, too." He glanced over at Jinora, her head still rested on his shoulder, perfectly still. He craned his neck a bit to see her face. Her lips were tightly pursed, and her eyes had grown unfocused and hazy.

"Um...after that," Kai said, looking back up to the others, "Ikki was...Ikki was killed. Crushed by the house that was brought by the cyclone. It turned out Hou-Ting had summoned the cyclone, and Jinora knew it the whole time, but when we coincidentally reunited at the site of her death, it...it wasn't pretty. I didn't want to believe her. I was...so, _so_ happy to see her, and also so angry at her for leaving and angry at her for giving me such a cold reception. I understand why she did that, now," he said. "She was always trying to protect me."

"And," she said softly, "I'll admit, I was a little angry at him for having worked on the Wizard's side for so long, even if he had just been doing it to look for me. Once my sister had...died, I guess all of that frustration sort of just made me snap. So I lashed out at him. Tried to make him think I didn't care for him anymore. But I couldn't keep it up, and we both confessed to still caring about one another. Then…"

"Then?" Korra prodded, only to be shushed by Asami.

The ends of Jinora's lips lifted up into a smile. "Then he kissed me. Just as the other guards were coming to arrest me," she said with a small laugh. "His timing was terrible, to say the least, but it melted my resolve long enough for him to convince me to take him with me. So... that was the first time we ran away together."

They looked at one another affectionately, unable to resist the waves of nostalgia that washed over them. "We ran away to one of my family's mansions in Kiamo Ko," Kai said, never taking his eyes off of her, "and... up to that point, had the best week and a half of my life."

Jinora then turned a dark green, as memories of heat and darkness and bare skin flooded her mind, and she broke her gaze with Kai. "And that was that. So then-"

"Wait," Korra said, "there has to be something else."

"What do you mean?" she squeaked.

"You're just going to skip over possibly the most important week and a half of this story? The first time you were ever a couple?"

"It's not...the _most_ important part," Jinora laughed nervously.

"Well, it kind of was," Kai said, to which Jinora responded with an elbow in his side.

"They're just embarrassed," Godfrey said, leaning back in his chair. "But I had a little bit of involvement in this period of their lives, so, as a Cat Owl dedicated to faithful storytelling, I'll do my best to prompt them along the way."

Jinora glared in his direction. "Godfrey…"

He ignored her, continuing, "Now, once they had reached Kiamo Ko, they were finally able to express their feelings for one another. Keep in mind, though, they had once been roommates that were in love, and that it had been three years. Three years of pining, and yearning…"


	6. The Untold Love Story

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

* * *

Chapter

Chapter 6: The Untold Love Story

 _Whether in bliss or affliction, loved owned you all the same. - Rachael Wade_

"And considering I caught them at it later, I can only assume they immediately had se-"

"Thank you, Godfrey," Kai said loudly over the Cat Owl. Korra snickered.

"I made sure to knock after the first time I caught them, which incidentally is how I met Kai, but after a while, I was able to time it right," he continued. "They were just so loud sometimes. So I'd wait until they'd quieted down for a few minutes-"

"Godfrey."

"-and then knock on the window just to make sure that at the very least their extremities were covered-"

" _Godfrey_."

"And most of the time I was fine, thankfully, but one time - ow!" He looked at Jinora, who was glaring daggers at him, and Kotta could only assume she'd kicked him very forcefully under the table.

Kotta had never seen her parents look more flustered, and found it was hard to look at them. As much as she knew her parents had a very intense...love, for one another, she found she didn't need to know anymore details.

"Well, I think you get the point," Godfrey mumbled. The other adults were snickering to themselves, and Flint kept shifting uncomfortably in his seat, scooting away from Kotta slightly. Naga simply stared at Kai and Jinora, her brow muscles lifted slightly as if she was kind of impressed.

"Sounds exhausting," Korra said, a mischievous grin on her face. "Years of sexual tension, finally bubbling to the surface-"

"Korra, I swear to Oz," Kai said, sharply turning to her, his face a bright red.

"20 times at least," Godfrey added. He grunted in pain at another kick from Jinora.

Korra's eyebrows rose. "20, huh? You two were like a couple of bunnies-"

"Korra!" Jinora dragged her hands down her face, her cheeks a very dark shade of green. The other woman held her hands up in surrender.

Still, Korra couldn't help herself as she glanced over at Kotta and said, "Poor kid, must be hard to get to sleep if they're still that...energetic-"

" _Korra!_ " both Kai and Jinora yelled. Korra raised her hands a little higher.

"We get it," Kotta said with a strained smile, "my parents love each other very much. We can continue to the next plot point. _Please_."

"Well, actually," Jinora said, her face still very flushed, "he did propose to me during our time at Kiamo Ko. We had just written a letter to Opal and we were…" As her blush deepened, Kotta could only infer what exactly had been doing. "... _talking_ , about infiltrating the Wizard's palace. I figured his expertise of the palace's layout would come in handy, so I asked him to help. He did, and he promised to come with me, and then just...made it official, by asking me to allow him to be by my side for the rest of our lives."

Kai smiled at the memory. "I was so nervous," he said. "I know we had...spent a lot of time together at that point, but things were still moving pretty fast, and I wasn't sure if she'd say yes. I was so happy when she did." They glanced at one another again, still a bit flustered, but clearly very fond of the memory.

"Aww," Opal sighed, smiling. "How did Jinora respond? I mean, I know she said yes, but I remember crying when Bolin asked me to marry him." She cast an affectionate glance at Bolin before looking back to them.

Kotta had never seen two such flustered people before. "That doesn't really matter, does it?" Jinora said, laughing nervously.

Kotta buried her face in her hands. "Please don't tell me you accepted his proposal by doing it again," she groaned, too mortified to care about being discrete anymore.

Jinora muttered, "On the kitchen table, actually." Opal spit out her drink and Korra hooted with laughter.

Kotta groaned again. "Okay, okay, forget I asked-"

"You seriously just said that out loud?" Kai said, looking distressed.

"She _asked_ ," Jinora said feebly. "But that's not the point. The point _is,_ we got engaged, and we were going to try to infiltrate the Wizard's palace to free the flying lemurs I had accidentally created during my first visit to the Wizard."

"We spent a few more days in Kiamo Ko, then left for the Emerald City. It was a hard few days. We kept having nightmares, and whatever bubble we were in while we were staying at Kiamo Ko just...popped. We were still happy to be together, but now we were scared, too. We were both fugitives that suddenly had everything to lose." Kai took a quick glance at Jinora, his eyes shining.

Opal and Bolin sighed dreamily. They had always been romantics at heart.

"We entered the Wizard's palace with what should have been the perfect plan," Jinora said. "We had prepared for everything, accounted for secret passages and the schedule of the guards, but...it wasn't enough." She looked at the spot on the table in front of her with a dark, distant expression. "The Wizard had been waiting for us."


	7. The Hardest Truth

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

* * *

Chapter 7: The Hardest Truth

* * *

Jinora made a noise that sounded like something between a cry of pain and a sob. She covered her trembling lip with her hand, as tears sprung to her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said, before turning into Kai to bury her face in his neck.

"Uh, we're getting to the part that...we've tried really hard not to think about for the past 17 years," Kai said in a thick, trembling voice. "We just need time to… collect ourselves." He swallowed hard, wrapping his arms tightly around his wife.

"It's okay," Asami said. She motioned to the others. "Come on. Let's give them some time."

Before leaving the dining room, Mako, who hadn't said anything up to this point, gently said, "I'll help you with this next part. I was there for some of it." Kai looked up at Mako momentarily, mouthed a tear-stained "Thank you," then buried his face in Jinora's hair. Their bodies shook with silent tears and barely suppressed sobs.

Kotta couldn't bring herself to move. She just stared at her parents for a while, looking more small and fragile that she'd ever seen them. They clung to one another like if either let go, whatever had separated them before would come back and tear their otherwise stable reality apart. She wondered what possibly could have happened; she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

She only moved when Flint put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go back up to the attic." He held out his hand, and she took it. As he led her back up the stairs, her parents' crying grew louder, their voices only forming the words, "I know. I know."

 _The truth is rarely pure and never simple. - Oscar Wilde_

Flint didn't let go of Kotta's hand even when they reached the attic, and she was grateful for it. She sat down near the door of the attic, and he sat down beside her.

There was a thick, solemn silence between them for a moment, before Kotta said, "I'm officially the worst daughter ever."

Flint turned to her sharply, bringing their interlocked hands into his lap. "Don't say that," he said.

"It's true," she said, turning to him with glistening eyes. "I was so selfish that I not only made my parents sick with worry by running away, but I'm also now forcing them to relive some of their most painful memories. We're probably getting to the second time they had to say goodbye, and it doesn't look like it was any easier than the first." She looked away. "I have _never_ seen them like that before, Flint. _I_ did that to them."

"Kotta, it's not your fault," he insisted. He was tempted to reach out and wipe the tear that had begun to trickle down her cheek, but he fought the urge. "Your parents...have been through so much. Those things happened to them before you were even born. You didn't do that to them, okay? The Wizard did. The people who kept trying to bring them down and tear them apart did. Not you. You," he said, squeezing her hand lightly, "are kind. And smart. And adventurous. You seek out the truth and you don't just settle for how things are. I know we've only known each other for a couple of days, but I see that in you. Imagine how much more your parents see in you. They don't blame you for their memories at all, okay?" Kotta looked at him tearfully, and he smiled at her. "Kotta, for the first time, people are hearing their _true_ story. One that's not riddled with lies and propaganda and ulterior motives. _You_ made that possible.. If anything, you should be proud of yourself." He squeezed her hand again. "I know I am."

She smiled at him through her tears, and despite herself, leaned in and kissed his cheek. She immediately pulled back, flushing at her own audacity.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable you've just been really supportive and-"

"Hey," he said, grinning bashfully, a deep red dusted across his cheeks, ears, and neck, "it's fine. I, uh, appreciate the sentiment."

Kotta grinned back, a little too wide. "Thanks. Um. Yeah." She released his hand, alarmed at how empty her own felt without it, and got up to walk over to another pile of books. "I'm suddenly not in the mood to read through history books. Is there anything else?"

Flint nodded, smiling gently as he walked over to one of the higher shelves and pulled out a book from the middle. "It's called _The Red String_ ," he said. "It's a favorite of my parents. And Aunt Korra and Aunt Asami. Even Uncle Mako has a soft spot for it, and he usually hates romance," he said with a small smile.

"I...I think I've read that before," Kotta said, taking a place next to him. "Or, at least, it was read to me, a long time ago. My parents really love it, too."

He beamed at her. "Small world. Mind me reading it to you?"

She smiled back, biting her bottom lip. "Not at all. Read away."

They sat down in that corner together, their eyes scanning the words. Their hands just barely brushed, and Kotta felt the strangest longing to hold his hand again.

"It is said," he read aloud, his voice low and clear, "that a string of red fate connects us to our soulmate, and while the string can become tangled or knotted, it can never break. It may connect us to our best friend, or the person we find the least likely to ever be remotely important to us. But you cannot deny fate, no more than you can deny love..."

 _I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light. - Hellen Keller_

"What if we tried to clear her name?"

Korra's voice broke through the silence of the living room, bringing Naga, Asami, Opal, Bolin, and Mako out of their thoughts.

"What?" Asami said.

"It's been 17 years since the Wicked Witch of the West was declared dead," Korra said. "We've gained a lot of influence since then. We've made Oz safe and happy. No one's outright oppressed, and while prejudices take longer than under two decades to unlearn, we've come a long way since the Wizard stepped down. We've done so much for the people. Don't you think we could so something for our friends? We could tell them the Wicked Witch of the West, as they know her, never existed. We could officially expose the Wizard for the liar he was, and clear Jinora's name. They could come back to Oz, for good."

"Um, _yes_ ," Naga said. "This is possibly one of the best ideas you guys have had. Do you know how fun it would be to have Uncle Kai around again? And Aunt Jinora. They could come to my wedding, see my future kids-"

"Slow down, there," Asami said, patting Naga's knee. "First of all, you still need to actually _propose_ to Mula before planning a wedding."

"I'm _trying_ ," Naga murmured, shifting in her seat. "Proposals aren't easy, you know."

"Secondly, there's a reason we haven't tried before," she said. "In the last letter they sent us, Jinora specifically asked us not to clear her name. Shouldn't we honour that?"

"That was nearly two decades ago!" Korra exclaimed. "She said that to make sure no one would turn against us. We were all still trying to settle into our new positions of authority. But now that we've established our influence, maybe we could start staking a claim, and try to make sure that Jinora's known for the brave, strong person she is. It's time that the history books start getting it right."

Asami looked hard at her wife. The lines in her face hadn't at all detracted from the wide-eyed, hopeful look in her blue eyes. "Shouldn't we ask Jinora if it's okay with her first?"

"No," Korra said immediately. "I don't want to risk her saying no just to protect us."

"Maybe they want to stay where they are, though," Asami suggested. "I mean, they seem happy, not to mention, Kai's parents and extended family all think he's dead, and Kai's shown no intentions of proving otherwise."

They went silent when a teary-eyed Jinora, along with Kai, both of them gripping their hands tightly, stood in the doorway. "We're ready to continue," Jinora said softly, her voice weak.

Opal went up to the attic to find Kotta and Flint, smiling when she saw them reading. "You'll have to finish that book later," she said quietly. "Kotta, your parents are ready to continue."

They all gathered around the kitchen table again, her parents practically sitting in the same chair, one arm wrapped around the other, their free hands laced together. Kotta looked at them, and saw her mother's eyes rimmed with red.

"We split up once we arrived at the Wizard's palace. I quickly found the flying lemurs, while Kai stayed back as a lookout." Jinora's voice shook. "The Wizard was waiting for me. He tried to strike up a deal with me...and I almost took it. I set the lemurs free, and I went to go free the last one… But it was my old professor, Dr. Laghima, instead. He couldn't even talk. So I refused the deal. The Wizard said they had - had captured Kai. And I was about to surrender…"

"When I burst through the doors," Kai finished, squeezing her hand. "Jinora was led away to another room. Mako, who was working as a guard, found me."

"The Wizard had agreed to let Kai and Jinora say," Mako winced, "goodbye. In reality, I tried to help them plan their escape. It was a tiny circular stone room, no windows or other doors. But when their time was up, the Wizard came in."

"And he wanted me to do something for him," Jinora remembered, her eyes filling with tears. "He said to keep Kai in the room, in - in case I needed some _incentive._ Then, before I could think, Kai had grabbed Mako's sword and he had it pressed up to the Wizard's throat. K-Kai demanded they unchain me and they gave me back my broom and the Grimmerie. And Kai t-told me to leave." Jinora was crying freely now, barely able to get the words out. She tightened her grip on Kai's hand, her eyes pained. "And I…"

"You left," Kai said, speaking more to her than anyone else, his voice surprisingly firm. "You left, just like I begged you to."

Jinora choked back a sob. "So I flew to Kiamo Ko as fast as I could. That's where we planned to go if - if anything went wrong." She shut her eyes tightly, shaking her head, and Kai knew she couldn't go on.

Kotta stared at her mother, tears in her own eyes. A lump formed in her throat as her gaze shifted to her father, who was frowning, his face serious.

"They took me to the interrogation room," Kai said softly. "They wanted me to tell them where Jinora had gone. Like hell." Jinora almost smiled, a steady stream of tears running down her face. Kai's voice grew louder as he said, "So they beat me. Clubs, mostly, but there were some fists too. Some whips, on my back." His lips twitched upwards, as he turned to his wife. "I thought I was going to die, but I also knew it was worth it, if it kept you safe." He kissed her fingers and Jinora made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

Jinora pulled him into a tight hug, shaking as he stroked her hair. "I thought I lost you," she whispered, barely loud enough for Kotta to hear. "Oh Oz, some days I think it's all been a dream and that I lost you."

"I know how you feel," Kai murmured, drawing away to kiss her forehead.

Kotta brought a hand up to her mouth, trying to suppress the tears threatening to come out. She'd always known her parents loved each other deeply, possibly more deeply than any other couple she'd known. But to know that their relationship had been under so much fire, that she and her siblings had almost not _existed_ , made something snap inside of her, like a rubber band that hadn't noticed how far it had been stretched till it was too late. She felt Flint's hand on her back, rubbing it gently.

Jinora took a few deep, shaky breaths, before she continued. "I flew as fast as I could back to Kiamo Ko. I'd never flown that fast before, and I didn't really care. I just needed to get back and...cast some spell that would hopefully work."

"And it did," Kai said. "Jinora's protection spell worked, and gave me enough time to poof myself out of there." He tried to smile, but immediately winced. "Although, before that...maybe during your trip...the Wizard and Hou-Ting tried to frame her, make it look like she'd kidnapped me, then beaten and tortured me." He kissed the back of her hand. "Hou-Ting cast a muting spell on me so I couldn't tell anyone the truth, just long enough for a mob to form."

"Luckily I found Kai and we managed to patch him up," Bolin said, trying to smile. He could remember that night, seeing Kai's injuries, and realizing just how lucky it really was. Without medical help, he doubted Kai would have survived.

"And I beat the mob to Kiamo Ko," Kai said, and his voice wavered. Kotta knew her parents had said goodbye twice now. She wondered if this was another time. "Jinora tried to convince me to leave. She said she - she didn't want to hurt me anymore." Kai tightened his grip on Jinora's hand, tears welling in his eyes. "And I told her she was being ridiculous, because I didn't care, but she had made up her mind."

"I was so tired, and I couldn't see a way out. So I decided to fake my death, and leave Oz by myself. For it to work, Kai had to think I was really dead." Jinora wiped her eyes, her throat burning. Her voice was small as she whispered, mostly to Kai, "I'm sorry for what I put you through."

Kai leaned in and kissed her cheek. "It's okay," he murmured. He squeezed her hand before turning back to the rest of them. "Your mother and I said goodbye. She had me be the one to 'kill' her, so my name would be cleared, and that I could stay behind and make a difference." Kai's voice cracked. "The week that followed was the worst of my entire life. Everybody was celebrating her death, but I...I was mourning."

Kotta made a strangled noise in her throat, tears streaming down her cheeks as she stared at her parents in horror. She watched her father choke back a sob and curl into her mother, burying his face in her neck, as Jinora rubbed soothing circles into his back.

"We reunited by chance, in our old dorm room. I had to visit it once, before I left. Kai had had a similar idea. He convinced me to let him come with me, and he faked his own death too. We left Oz, and got married a day or so after we arrived at Animal Haven." Jinora smiled, a tear trickling down her cheek. "You know the rest."

Kotta's chair scraped against the floor, the only noise in the solemn silence that had followed, as she got up from the table, walked over to her parents, and pulled them into a tight hug. Kotta found their free hands and gripped them tightly, and could feel them shaking; she was trembling too.

"I'm sorry," was all Kotta could manage to say through her sobs. "I didn't mean to - I had no idea- Mommy, Daddy, I'm so sorry-"

Jinora gently shushed her, cupping her face. "Kotta, you and your siblings are three of the best things that have ever happened to us. We wanted so badly to protect you, and now you know why. It's alright sweetheart."

"I shouldn't have pushed you," Kotta sniffled. "I shouldn't have run away - you guys were probably scared out of your minds, oh Oz-"

Kai gently stroked her hair. "It's alright, really. We can work through all of this together now. As a family. Okay?"

Kotta nodded, before pulling her parents into another hug. "I love you guys so much," she sobbed.

Jinora kissed her hair. "We know, we love you too."

Mako nodded towards the door to the living room. Slowly, the BeiFongs and the Satos, along with Mako, filed out of the kitchen, leaving them alone. Flint was the last one out, his eyes lingering on the family huddled together at the table, before finally following the rest into the living room. He wiped away a few stray tears, before joining his parents on one of the couches.

"I never knew," Opal muttered.

"None of us did, really," Asami said softly. "All we knew were bits and pieces, we didn't…"

"Poor Uncle Kai and Aunt Jinora," Naga murmured. "I knew his eyes were sad when I was a kid, but I had no idea just how much they'd…" Her cool demeanor cracked for just a moment as her black bottom lip trembled.

Korra stood up. "How can we not try to clear her name now?" she exclaimed.

Asami took her hand, trying to tug her back down. "Korra, please, this is hardly the time-"

"Just…" her eyes were unusually bright as she looked to Naga, who was giving her a small, supportive smile. "Just think about it. I need some air." She walked out the front door, leaving the rest of the group behind.

There was another awkward silence before Mako said, "You know, if we actually tried, I think we'd have a shot at making it work."

"Speaking of which, Bolin, how did he contact you?" Opal asked.

"Through a letter," her husband answered. "I had someone deliver it."

"Well, who delivered it? Is it possible they read it? Do we know they can trust them?"

Bolin gulped. "Um, a random worker. And I just assumed they wouldn't read it."

Opal narrowed her eyes. "Assumed? _Assumed?_ You're telling me, that some random worker might know that they're not actually dead?!"

"Um, yes?" Bolin squeaked, looking terrified. "Opal, sweetheart please, it's not like anyone would believe them, and Korra and Asami still have the letter, so-"

"What if someone saw Kai and Jinora fly into Oz, and puts it together? What if Kai's parents find out? Do you know how bad that'll be, _do you_?"

"Mom!" Flint interrupted, trying to draw their attention. "Please, don't mad at Dad, he just-"

"I'm not _mad_ at your father," Opal said, taking Bolin's hand. "I'm just...worried. All that talk of trying to clear Jinora's name just made me think about whether or not we left any trace of them and right now I'm not sure _which_ is the safest course of action. And to think," she sighed, "that nearly two decades of governing Munchkinland wouldn't prepare me for this."

"Maybe...maybe they could stay here," Flint suggested meekly. "At least for a few more days. That way, you guys can make sure that any evidence of them being back in Oz is secured, and we can figure out exactly how to clear her name in the meantime."

There was a heavy silence before Naga walked over and sat down next to Flint, putting a supportive arm around him. "I think this is the best idea we've got for now," she said. "I mean, I know it's the kids talking, but still, I don't hear anyone else coming up with any reasonable plans of action."

"Flint, it's more complicated than just...having them stay over," Opal said. "If we get any unexpected calls from other officials or dignitaries-"

"Actually, that won't be a problem," Asami said. "I can just make an announcement that you and Bolin are in the middle of some important, top-secret business and that no one should make any unexpected calls on you. Those that want to make an appointment will have to go through me or Korra. And anyone that wants to contact us usually has to go through one of our secretaries."

Opal stared at her. "And that's...okay?"

Asami smiled humbly. "Well, we _are_ in charge of all of Oz. People will most likely assume we're working together on some political thing and leave this household alone."

There was another silence, before Opal smiled and said, "Well...I never mind their company."

"And I could start the investigation within a few hours," Mako said. "I can trace back the person who delivered the letter, see what they know, and then once all the evidence of their presence is secured, do what I can to clear Jinora's name. We've already got what's as good as a testimony, and I think the majority of us count as eyewitness accounts. With a little bit of work, this shouldn't be the hardest case I've ever had." His typically serious features broke into a small smile, the one that had made the most appearances back when he was a detective.

Opal's smile grew, relaxing now that they had some sort of plan. "Alright then."


End file.
